obituary

Mr. Ayers and his wife, Janet, have been a major philanthropic force in all of Tennessee.

He and his wife, Patricia Ingram Hart, who died in 2022, endowed multiple chairs across the School of Medicine and Peabody College of Education and Human Development.

She served in a number of leadership roles, including evening hospital administrator and assistant hospital director for VUH. She was an administrative director for several areas, including LifeFlight and the Burn Patient Care Center, and helped guide the creation of VUH’s dedicated Trauma Intensive Care Unit.

He served in many capacities in the department, including residency training director, medical director of the Psychiatric Hospital, division director, vice chair and interim chair.

Dr. Johnson was performing an autopsy in 1992 when his hand slipped and he sliced through his protective gloves. He cut his finger and infected himself with AIDS.

Alongside his clinical, teaching, administrative and research work, Dr. Heller was a person of many other interests.

Mr. Wills was noted for his substantial civic contributions to Nashville and his efforts to record and preserve the history of the city that five generations of the Wills family have called home.