2011 JCLC Preservation Awards CEREMONY
JERSEY CITY LEGEND AWARD
To Dr. Jonathan C. Gibbs, M.D.
Photo: Dr. Jonathan C. Gibbs, M.D. (right) from "Images of America: Jersey City Medical Center" by Leonard F. Vernon, Arcadia Publishing, 2004.
To Dr. Jonathan C. Gibbs, M.D., for his lifetime of distinguished service and dedication to the Jersey City community. Dr. Gibbs served as the first African-American Chief of Surgery at the old Jersey City Medical Center (now The Beacon residential complex).
Buy Leonard F. Vernon's "Images of America: Jersey City Medical Center" >
ANNOUNCEMENT
PASSING OF A LEGEND
Posted May 25, 2011
ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE FAMILY OF DR. JONATHAN C. GIBBS, M.D.
Surgeon, husband, father, son, citizen, community leader, civil rights warrior, consultant, mentor and friend, Dr. Jonathan C. Gibbs Jr M.D. died on Monday, May 23, 2011.
A longtime New Jersey resident, Jonathan C. Gibbs Jr, was born in1924 in Trenton NJ, the only son of Dr. Jonathan C. Gibbs Sr and Catholine Allen Gibbs. He graduated from Rutherford High School in Rutherford NJ and attended Howard University College and Medical School completing his studies in 1950.
He then came to develop relationships within an emerging progressive Jersey City medical community and began training in general surgery at the Jersey City Medical Center, overcoming segregation and racial discrimination to eventually become the first African-American surgical chief resident. As he reflected in later years on this journey he said, "It’s what you do and accomplish in your own right that is important and I have always expected and demanded to be treated as a first-class citizen."
Upon completion of his training and for the next 25 years he built a thriving private general surgery practice on Gifford Ave. In 1975 he made a conscious decision to move his practice to the heart of the Jersey City black community and established the medical multi-specialty clinic, the Catholine Allen Gibbs Memorial Health Center which over the next 36 years became a place for thousands to receive quality and compassionate health care.
He established surgical appointments at the Jersey City Medical Center, St. Francis Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital, Christ Hospital and the Greenville Hospital. He served as a school physician for the Jersey City Public Schools, was an attending physician for women at the Essex County and Hudson County Correctional Facilities and was the Medical Director of the Meadowlands Sports Complex.
Over his 61 year medical career in Jersey City, the gentle, smiling and soft-spoken Dr. Gibbs provided more than just his surgical expertise to cure the ills of his patients but was always available to heal the wounds of injustice, hear the cries of need and answer the calls for help from the community he so dearly loved and served.
In 2006 the Jersey City Martin Luther King Jr Parade was dedicated to Dr. Gibbs and he received honor and special recognition from the US House of Representatives, the State of New Jersey, the Hudson County Board of Freeholders, and the Office of the Mayor of Jersey City for his lifelong contributions as a Pioneer of Service and Business in the Black Community.
Dr. Gibbs was a member of a family tree which is the African- American version of aristocratic. He emerged from an ancestry of intelligence and faith, success and determination that stretched back over 200 years. His ancestors were theologians, doctors, lawyers, artists, entrepreneurs and public figures including founders of Florida A&M University in Tallahassee Florida.
As Dr. Gibbs was quoted: "I know what it was in me that refused to let me quit. It’s in my genes."
He was pre- deceased by his wife of 52 years Verna Hazel Thomas Gibbs and is survived by a sister, four children, four grandchildren, one great- grandchild, multiple nieces, nephews, cousins, grateful patients and a multitude of loving friends.
A public visitation for all will be held on Friday, May 27th 2011 from 2- 6pm at the O’Brien Funeral Home with a private memorial service planned. In lieu of gifts, donations may be sent to Florida A&M University for the continued reconstruction of The Jonathan Gibbs Home on the campus.
