Few pediatricians could top Dr. Jesse Ramsey, who died Wednesday, when it came to caring for children, say colleagues and the parents of patients he treated.

Ramsey, 53, died unexpectedly at Southeast Missouri Hospital. At the time of his death he was lead pediatric hospitalist at Southeast, a position he took in 1999. Prior to that he was a physician in the emergency services department at Southeast from 1992-99 and in private practice at Pediatric Associates of Southeast Missouri from 1980 to 1992.

"He was one of the best doctors we could have had," said Eileen Miesner, whose daughter Jennifer was a patient of Ramsey when he was in private practice.

Jennifer, now 19, is severely handicapped and has had numerous medical problems.

Miesner remembers the first time the family met Ramsey when Jennifer was hospitalized at age 2.

"He wasn't even our doctor at the time, but he sat with us for about two hours," Miesner said. It was shortly after that the Miesners switched doctors and began taking Jennifer to Ramsey.

Ramsey was great with children, Miesner said. But in addition to that he was aggressive with care, his decisions were on target, he took time with patients and he listened to parents.

"He listened to parents because he knew parents know their children," Miesner said.

She said he also took the time to educate parents in caring for their children.

Nancy Mosley, who was a pediatric nurse practitioner in Ramsey's office for four years, also remembered Ramsey taking time with patients and their parents.

"The office could be busy and he could be behind schedule, but he still gave each patient all the time they needed," said Mosley, who is now a pediatric nurse practitioner at the Cape Girardeau County Health Center.

"He was absolutely devoted to children," said Pat Pennington, nurse manager of emergency services at Southeast Missouri Hospital, where Ramsey worked as an emergency department doctor.

"He looked at patients as people, not as diseases," Pennington said.

Ramsey treated adults as well as children while working in the emergency department, Pennington said. But it was Ramsey who was called when sick or injured children needed treatment, she said.

"You could have a terrified, screaming child and Dr. Ramsey would come and tweet like a bird in the child's ear and the child would quiet right down," Pennington said.

Dr. James Kinder, a pediatrician at the Cape Girardeau County Health Center, helped recruit Ramsey to Cape Girardeau.

Ramsey, who was born Dec. 27, 1946, in Fort Worth, Texas, was a graduate of Texas Wesleyan College and received a doctor of osteopathy degree from Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. While in the U.S. Army, he served as chief of Pediatrics at the U.S. Army Hospital in Augsburg, Germany.

"He was well-respected when he came here and our respect for him only grew as he practiced here," Kinder said.

Kinder said he frequently turned to Ramsey for advice, and Ramsey was always gracious when giving suggestions, Kinder said. "He was great at cooperating with everyone."

Kinder especially remembers Ramsey's work in the neonatal intensive care unit at Southeast Hospital, which Ramsey helped establish and where he was director from 1980-82.

It was while watching Ramsey work in neonatal intensive care that attorney Kathleen Wolz, who at the time was working in Southeast's marketing department, decided that when she had children, she wanted Ramsey for a pediatrician, said her husband Jay Wolz, administrator at PRN Urgent Care.

It was a good choice, Wolz said, because Ramsey helped to save the Wolzes' oldest daughter's life.

In 1989, 1-year-old Katie Wolz developed diarrhea and fever. Ramsey ordered tests and discovered the cause was Plesiomonas shigelloides, a tropical disease commonly transmitted by piranha. Ramsey and other local health professionals helped solve the mystery as how a toddler from Missouri contracted a tropical disease. Their sleuth work in tracing the illness to contact with water from a baby-sitter's piranha tank earned the Wolz family, Ramsey and others a spot on the CBS television program "True Detectives."

"We chuckle now about Katie catching a rare tropical disease from piranhas," Wolz said. "But if Dr. Ramsey hadn't caught it and treated it appropriately, there could have been serious consequences."

Miesner firmly believes she owes her daughter's life to Ramsey.

"We lost a very good doctor," she said.

Ramsey is survived by his wife, the former Kim K. Wallace of Cape Girardeau; two sons, Benjamin J. Ramsey and Luke W. Ramsey, both of Cape Girardeau; five daughters, Maci E. Ramsey, Tess M. Ramsey and Jessica S. Wyatt, all of Cape Girardeau, Sheila R. Gartman of Jackson and Abigale C. Ramsey of Farmington; his parents, Ray F. and Maxine Maley Ramsey of Fort Worth; a brother, John W. Ramsey of Georgetown, Texas; and three grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Alexis M. Ramsey.

Funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Andrew Lutheran Church. Burial will be in Memorial Park.