Oakley Henry Saunders Jr., a retired pediatrician who had been president of the old Provident Hospital and later worked in medical accreditation, died of cancer Tuesday at his Forest Park home. He was 81.
Born in Baltimore and raised in West Baltimore, he attended Frederick Douglass High School and served in the Army. He earned a degree from Howard University and was a 1957 Meharry Medical College graduate.
After an internship at Provident Hospital and a residency at what is now the University of Maryland Medical Center, he established a private pediatric practice in 1960 on Madison Avenue.
"He was Baltimore's Dr. Spock," said University of Maryland law professor Larry Gibson. "He was fantastic pediatrician and an adviser on parenting. When you came to him in a medical or emotional crisis, he was always so calm."
Dr. Saunders' waiting room was nearly always filled with families seeking medical care, friends said.
"He was mesmerizing with children," said his daughter, Karen Clark of Baltimore. "He was good at talking to them and teaching them. He was a Bill Cosby before there was a Bill Cosby."
In a 1972 Sun interview, he spoke about the medical conditions affecting his African-American patients: "Housing in this area is terribly depressed. They have never cleaned up lead paint in the homes. ... There is bronchitis and pneumonia because of inadequate heating."
In 1972, he joined the staff of Provident Hospital and became president of its medical staff.
"He was in the leadership of Baltimore's civil rights movement," said the Rev. Vernon N. Dobson, Union Baptist Church's retired pastor and a friend. "He was well spoken and spoke the truth to powerful people. Jim Rouse was fond of him and spoke at length with Oakley when he was planning to build Columbia."
Mr. Dobson said that Dr. Saunders "deeply understood health wellness for a deprived community and ... he gave great relief to those people who had no other recourse to medical care."
Dr. Saunders remained at Provident and became its vice president of medical affairs. He served a year as the institution's president and stepped down in 1985, a year before Provident closed. News articles at the time noted that Provident's patient base eroded as African-Americans began using competing hospitals for their medical care.
He then became a physician surveyor for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. Family members said that he traveled the world as a health care consultant for the commission as well as the World Health Organization. He retired several years ago.
In 1979, Gov. Harry R. Hughes named him to the State Board of Higher Education. Dr. Saunders also served on the Central Maryland Health Systems Agency, Community Health Council of Maryland and Minority Biomedical Research Consortium boards.
He also served on the Advisory Subcommittee for Minority Recruitment at the University of Maryland's School of Medicine. In the 1960s, as a member of the Community Action Agency, he helped implement Project Head Start in city neighborhoods.
He made numerous presentations to the National Institutes of Health as well as to the Maryland General Assembly.
Dr. Saunders enjoyed sailing on the Chesapeake Bay aboard his boat, the Imhotep. He also was a vegetable gardener and participated in the Baltimore City Farms program in Leakin Park.
Services will be held at noon Wednesday at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 3404 Bateman Ave.
In addition to his daughter, survivors include his wife of 20 years, the former Barbara Stewart; a son, Keith Saunders of Indianapolis; three other daughters, Stephanie Parker of Baltimore, Lisa Saunders of Richmond, Calif., and Fumie Collier of San Leandro, Calif.; and five grandchildren.
