Harold Jensen Obituary

Jensen M.D., Harold L. Chairman of ISMIE Mutual Insurance Company and a longtime resident of Frankfort, passed away, May 22, 2017. Dr. Jensen leaves an extraordinary legacy of service to his family, patients, country and the medical community. He cared for countless south suburban patients since completing his residency in internal medicine at Illinois Central Hospital in 1957. Born in Pillager, MN, Dr. Jensen served in the U.S. Army from 1944-48, leaving military service as a Second Lieutenant. Following the military, Dr. Jensen earned his undergraduate degree in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign and his medical degree at University of Illinois at Chicago. He was a longtime medical staff member at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, where he also served as the hospital's vice president of medical affairs, as chair of the Department of Medicine and as medical staff president. Dr. Jensen was also on the medical staff of Hazel Crest's South Suburban Hospital, now part of the Advocate system. Throughout his medical career, Dr. Jensen demonstrated as deep a commitment to his profession as he did to the patients under his care. His passion for medicine began one night while a child living at a boarding house, holding a mason jar of leeches to assist a physician making a house call for a patient with high blood pressure. Since that night he worked tirelessly towards his objective to become a physician, including holding 17 different jobs to get through medical school. A member and leader of the Illinois State Medical Society, Dr. Jensen served as ISMS chairman from 1988-90. Prior to that, he was president of the Chicago Medical Society from 1985-86. In 1991, Dr. Jensen was elected ISMIE Mutual's third chairman. He steered the company through difficult market conditions in the 1990s and early 2000s, launched the industry-leading Managing Risk program in 2004 and fostered ISMIE's current national expansion. Dr. Jensen pioneered innovative risk management education to improve patient safety and protect physicians from medical liability. He advocated tirelessly for legal fairness and balance in Illinois' courtrooms. In addition, Dr. Jensen had a wide variety of interests outside of medicine: he was a voracious reader, enjoyed golf, loved animals and was an expert woodcrafter. Dr. Jensen is survived by his wife, Sandra; three children, Eric Jensen (Elizabeth), Kris Ann Bahl (Ken), Beth Susan Montblanc (Patrick); six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. qA memorial service will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Friday, June 2, 2017, at the Flossmoor Country Club, located at 1441 Western Ave. in south suburban Flossmoor. Per Dr. Jensen's wishes and in recognition of the care he received from Dr. Sandy Sundram and his team, in lieu of flowers please send donations for indigent cardiac patients to Advanced Heart Group, 71 W. 156th St., Suite 305, Harvey, IL 60426. Contributions should be noted as in memory of Dr. Harold Jensen.