Creighton University has lost a mentor, a professional and a long-time friend. Dr. Robert McQuillan, associate professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and formerly chair of the department, died Jan. 3. He was 47.

The Rev. Richard Hauser, S.J., a close friend of the McQuillan family, described him as a generous and warm-hearted person. He was also a “Bluejay fan to the core,” Hauser said.

“Bob arranged his life to contribute as much as he could to the university.”

McQuillan graduated from Creighton as a theology major in 1984. He attended Creighton University School of Medicine and completed his residency program at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. He returned to Creighton in 1993 as staff physician and director of Acute and Chronic Pain Therapy.

Hauser said McQuillan was involved in both the religious and social dimensions of college life. In 1975, Hauser began holding candlelight Mass with McQuillan acting as Eucharistic Minister while he was an undergraduate student.

“His driving intellectual interests were integrating faith and medicine,” Hauser said. “My strongest memories of him, first of all, was as a person of faith.”

Dr. James Manion, associate professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, was a close friend of McQuillan and his colleague for 13 years. Manion said he met McQuillan when he was a senior in medical school. As president of his class, McQuillan organized retreats and continued the Make-A-Wish charity event.

“He was just the very best,” Manion said. “He was a good man and a very good leader.”

McQuillan traveled to the Dominican Republic with the Institute for Latin American Concern as a Creighton undergraduate. When he became a faculty member, he was very involved in the original design of the outpatient surgery center at ILAC.

Manion recalls traveling to the Dominican Republic with McQuillan to aid needy patients. “We did a lot of good work for people who wouldn’t have been able to afford heart surgery,” Manion said. “He was a hard worker and a wonderful person to be with, both in the operating room and when we were socializing.”

Hauser said McQuillan will be missed, both as a doctor and as a friend. “He had an energy for living,” Hauser said.

“I had great respect for Bob. [He was] a spontaneous, warm human being who I totally enjoyed being with.”

McQuillan is survived by his wife and three children.