OHIO DENTISTRY LOSES 3 GIANTS
Three giants of Ohio dentistry passed away recently. In this month’s column, I take a moment to remember their amazing contributions to dentistry and beyond, and also the impact they had on me personally.
Dennis Burns
Pictured: (back from left) David Owsiany, ODA executive director, and Joe Crowley, an ODA and ADA past president; (front from left) Dr. Joe Mellion, an ODA past president; Dr. Denny Burns and his wife Lora; and Dr. Ted Pope, a past ODA president.
Dr. Dennis Burns passed away in November of 2023. He was one of the first dentists I got to know when I was hired at the ODA. And meeting him was an eye-opener!
Dennis Burns grew up in Shadyside, Ohio, on the Ohio River across from West Virginia. After high school he enrolled at The Ohio State University with the intent of getting into dental school. Burns joined the U.S. Army ROTC program as an undergraduate student and, after graduation, he enrolled in The Ohio State University College of Dentistry and joined the U.S. Army Reserve. Upon graduation from dental school in 1971, Burns went on active duty and was stationed in West Germany as clinic chief in the U.S. Army Dental Corps. Burns achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel, serving on active duty from 1971 until 1975 and then in the Army Reserve for more than 30 years.
While active in the Army Reserve, Burns also worked as a general dentist in Columbus and Loudonville for more than 30 years and was very active in organized dentistry. He served on numerous committees and councils at every level of organized dentistry, including serving as president of the Columbus Dental Society in 1994 and on the ADA Council on Dental Benefits and the American Dental Political Action Committee Board of Trustees. He received the ODA’s Distinguished Dentist Award in 2008.
I first met and got to know “Denny” when he served as chairman of the Ohio Dental Political Action Committee (ODPAC) and I had just been hired as the ODA’s director of legal and legislative services in the late 1990s. Denny had a gruff demeanor and a very direct style. In my first meeting with him, I asked him if he had any advice for me as I started my new job at the ODA. He looked at me straight in the eye and growled “keep your resume up to date; you might need it sooner than you think!” Then, he walked out of my office. And that is how my relationship with Denny began!
Many times, a first impression of someone is the correct one. That was not usually the case with Denny. Behind that gruff personality was a kind and sweet soul. But if you judged the book by the cover, you would never know it!!
Denny was one of the only dentists at the time that truly understood the legislative and political process and the impact state government could have on the practice of dentistry. He led the charge to heighten the visibility of the ODPAC. He understood that money is the lifeblood of politics. It didn’t matter whether we liked it or not, the reality was that if we were going to be able to protect dentistry – the profession that Denny loved – we needed to step up our game.
In recent years, the ODA’s member dentist surveys regularly show that advocacy is the most important thing the ODA does in the eyes of our members. That wasn’t the case back in the early 1990s when Denny first got involved with the ODA. Our effectiveness in advocacy has improved drastically since then. For example, in 1991, only 23% of ODA members were “very satisfied” with the ODA’s lobbying efforts. In 2023, 53% report being “very satisfied” with our lobbying efforts and another 41% being “somewhat satisfied.” That is an amazing 93% satisfaction rate. Much of this progress has its roots in Denny’s efforts.
For more than 30 years, the ODA has experienced many legislative and regulatory victories. Being successful in the legislative arena requires a multi-faceted approach. Having a strong PAC so that we can support those legislators and candidates for office who support dentistry and oral health is crucial. The ODA has had many champions of our political advocacy efforts but, in many ways, Denny was the one who raised advocacy to a new level. He wasn’t always subtle about it (subtlety was not his strong suit) but he sure was effective. And the dental profession and dental patients in Ohio have all benefited from his efforts.
Despite his dire warning about my lack of a future at the ODA during our first meeting, Denny was quick to adopt my family as his own. We spent many hours together at dental meetings and other social activities outside of dentistry. He was the first to bring baby gifts over when my daughters were born. As they got older, my daughters lovingly called him “Uncle Denny” – seeing right through that gruff exterior.
For a portion of his career, Denny worked in a dental practice that was less than a mile from the ODA’s offices in Columbus. During that time, we saw Dr. Burns nearly every week as he was a frequent visitor. Denny would regularly bring small gifts for the ODA staff just to thank us for our efforts on behalf of the dental profession which he loved so dearly.
We all miss him.
Steve Simpson
David Owsiany, ODA executive director, and Dr. Steve Simpson, a past ODA president posing with Touchdown Jesus.
In December of 2023, Dr. Steve Simpson passed away after an extended battle with leukemia. Simpson was a board-certified orthodontist who practiced in Hudson for more than 35 years.
Simpson served as ODA president in 2009-2010. Prior to that, he served as president of the Greater Cleveland Dental Society and on many councils and committees within organized dentistry, including at the national level serving on the ADA Council on Dental Benefits where he travelled the country helping state and local dental societies set up their peer review systems. Steve was also active with orthodontic organizations, including having served as president of the Ohio Association of Orthodontists and teaching in the Graduate Orthodontic Department of Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine.
Steve gave back to his local community as well, serving as a consultant with the Craniofacial Center at Akron Children’s Hospital, where he treated patients with cleft lip and palate and other craniofacial anomalies. This was his way of giving back to a community and a profession that had given so much to him. He volunteered with his church community (Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in Hudson) and Hudson schools. He was also active in the Hudson Chamber of Commerce and other civic organizations.
I got to know Steve through his involvement here at the ODA. He was chair of the ODA’s Council on Dental Care Programs and Dental Practice back in the 1990s while I was working as the ODA’s director of legal and legislative services. Later, Steve served on the ODPAC Board of Directors and became very involved in organized dentistry’s advocacy efforts at the state and national levels. Steve’s most recent position before retiring down to Florida was serving as chair of the Ohio Section of the American College of Dentists, which is dedicated to promoting professionalism and ethics within the dental profession. In all of his efforts, Simpson always represented dentistry with decorum and class.
In 2015, he received the ODA’s Distinguished Dentist Award for his long-term commitment to organized dentistry, its members and the dental profession. At that time, Steve said he was humbled to receive the award and reminded us that “Organized dentistry can help keep our values high and deliver a clear message to the media and those in positions of power that we stand for our professional ethics and standards, and we are not going to usurp or violate or compromise them for the sake of a dollar.”
Steve and I spent many hours working together on issues related to dental practice, ethics and political action and eventually became close friends. Steve went to Notre Dame for undergrad, and I went to the University of Michigan, so we regularly hosted each other on the campuses of our respective alma maters when Notre Dame played Michigan in football.
I will miss those afternoons and evenings in South Bend and Ann Arbor with Steve.
Ron Stanich
Dr. Ron Stanich, a past ODA president; David Owsiany, ODA executive director; and Dr. Ron Lemmo, a past ODA president and past ADA treasurer.
Dr. Ronald Stanich passed away on March 18, 2024. Ron crammed what seems like three lives into one! He was never one to shy away from a challenge and seemed to have boundless energy.
When Ron Stanich was an undergraduate student at the University of Akron, he enrolled in the U.S. Air Force ROTC program, which began his long and illustrious career in the Air Force. After graduation in 1970, Ron trained as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force. Despite his training and service in the military, Ron still pursued his dream to become a dentist, eventually graduating from The Ohio State University College of Dentistry with his D.D.S. degree in 1977.
Ron spent over 33 years in active duty in the Air Force and the Ohio Air National Guard, achieving the rank of full colonel. After his career flying F-100 fighters, he transitioned to flying C-130 transports for several years. Ron served as a base dental surgeon and became commander of the 179th Medical Group based in Mansfield. He was the only dentist to serve as commander of the Medical Group, which is a mobile military hospital with over 80 medical personnel.
Ron practiced general dentistry in Stark County for more than 30 years and was very active in organized dentistry. He served on many committees and councils and also as president of the Stark County Dental Society. His leadership in organized dentistry culminated with him serving as president of the ODA in 1998-99. Ron received many notable awards throughout his life including being inducted into the Distinguished Dental Service Academy of the Stark County Dental Society in 2008 and receiving the ODA Distinguished Dentist Award in 2009.
Ron was also very active in his local community including serving as president of the Rotary Club of Canal Fulton and the president of the Canal Fulton Chamber of Commerce.
I got to know Ron when he was on the ODA Executive Committee in the late 1990s while I was working as the ODA’s director of legal and legislative services. He was involved in the leadership of so many different organizations that at one point his main strategy to keep organized was to have a separate large briefcase for every organization he was helping to lead. His office looked like a luggage warehouse, he had so many briefcases – each filled with files and papers.
Ron and I stayed in touch over the years as I admired his energy in being actively involved in so many organizations at once. I learned many leadership qualities from him. He had a knack for attracting admirers in whatever activity he was engaged in. Before he retired from the Air Force, Ron invited me and a few other ODA staffers up to the Air National Guard Base in Mansfield. He gave us a tour of the facilities. It was clear that everyone on the base had a special respect for “Colonel Stanich.” Then, Ron took us up in a C-130 military transport aircraft. He flew us up to Lake Erie and then over Cedar Point before heading back to Mansfield. It was a thrill for all of us, and Ron clearly enjoyed being able to share his love of flying with others. And that is the best way I can describe Ron. He was generous to a fault – always putting others before himself.
When Ron accepted the ODA Distinguished Dentist Award in 2009, he challenged others coming up after him to continue to serve. He said that he got involved in organized dentistry because he had mentors like Dr. Jim Fanno who demonstrated the importance of giving back to a profession that had given him so much. Stanich’s message to the next generation of dentists was that “Only in serving can we keep our profession as wonderful as it is today. We must always protect our profession and its values.”
Conclusion
I am often amused by how some people throw the term “privilege” around without knowing anything about the person they are tagging with that term. If having a commitment to your community, your profession and/or your country defines privilege, then Denny, Steve and Ron certainly were privileged. Each of them sacrificed to give back in many different ways. I know that I am privileged for having had the opportunity to know them, learn from them, and be mentored by them. And today’s dentists in Ohio are privileged to belong to a profession that had people like Denny, Steve and Ron protect and nurture it for them.
