John Remensnyder, 75; surgeon, burn specialist treated body and spirit

They came to him severely burned or disfigured, hoping for relief from their pain, physical and emotional. Dr. John Paul Remensnyder Jr., an avuncular surgeon, was known to comfort his young patients and offer clear explanations of diagnosis and treatment options, whether they had just survived a gas explosion in the Ural Mountains or a local house fire.

Dr. Remensnyder, who served as chief of Massachusetts General Hospital's division of plastic and reconstructive surgery and chief of staff at the Shriners Hospital for Children, died of cancer Oct. 14 at his home in Exeter, N.H. He was 75.

"John was one of the most important mentors for everyone at Shriners and at Mass. General in teaching compassionate patient care," said former colleague Frederick Stoddard, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "He was without a doubt the most psychologically minded surgeon I have known."

In the operating room, Dr. Remensnyder used the latest procedures and taught them to the many students at his side.

"He had very nimble fingers -- he always carved the turkey at Thanksgiving, naturally, and he was adept at tying knots," said his wife, Mary. "He had patience, and he liked, I think, the intricacy of reconstruction, and particularly, of course, I think he felt that he really could do something for them."

In the early 1990s, he and his wife went to Russia on a Project HOPE mission to treat about two dozen children critically injured in a liquefied natural gas explosion about 745 miles southeast of Moscow. While there, he helped start the Hope Burn Center at Children's Hospital No. 9 in Moscow and trained Russian doctors in the advanced treatments that were used in US hospitals. He showed them how to remove burned tissue early on, a process known as debridement, and as a result, infection and mortality rates were reduced. He returned several times and became an ardent advocate for needy Russian children.

His work was featured in a story that aired on National Public Radio after his return, family said.

"This was a real eye-opener and a wonderful trip for both of us," his wife said. "It certainly was the most challenging six months we ever had."

When he returned, he became director of the MGH operating rooms, where he wrote out calculations for how long procedures took and gathered other data to help organize scheduling and to determine how best to allocate space and equipment.

Dr. Remensnyder was born in Plainfield, N.J., and grew up in nearby Metuchen. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1951 with a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1957.

While a student at Wesleyan, he was introduced to his future wife, then a student at Mount Holyoke College. They were married for 52 years. The couple lived in Chestnut Hill before retiring to New Hampshire.

He was a surgical resident at MGH, with a two-year stint as a member of the senior research staff at the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Physiology at the National Heart Institute, and he did his residency in plastic surgery at Johns Hopkins University. He was chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at MGH from 1973 until 1982. During his last two years there, he also took on the chief-of-staff position at the Shriners and stayed there a decade.

At MGH and Shriners, he wrote papers and chapters of books while continuing to teach. His calm demeanor made him a good model, family and colleagues said.

"He certainly wasn't a panicker," his wife said. "Like all of them, he was able to focus on the issues before him."

He also traveled with Project HOPE to Spitak, Armenia, in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, as well as missions to El Salvador, Jamaica, Poland, and the Dominican Republic.

He stepped down as director of operating rooms at MGH in 1996 and retired in 2001.

His fine handiwork was not limited to the operating room. His home was filled with shelves he built, most of which held his eclectic collection of books -- about 4,000 in total.

"He had such a wide range of interests, his conversations would have real substance to them," his wife said.

In addition to his wife, Dr. Remensnyder leaves two daughters, Amy G. of Providence and Margaret D. of Newtonville; a son, Stuart of Amherst; a sister, Doris Wilkie of Margaretville, N.Y., and a granddaughter.

A service will be held at 2 p.m. Nov. 18 at the Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill. Burial was in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.