Dr. Donald Schon earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and went on to receive his medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, followed by a fellowship in nephrology at Yale.

Don dedicated his career to improving the lives of patients with kidney disease. He served on the faculty at Good Samaritan Hospital and St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, and he taught students and colleagues through Arizona State University School of Nursing and the University of Arizona.

In 1981, he co-founded AZ Kidney Disease and Hypertension Center, where he cared for generations of patients with skill, judgment and compassion. Throughout his career, Don helped shape the field of nephrology not only as a physician and teacher, but also as an innovator. He was a pioneer in interventional nephrology, helping advance procedures and technologies that improved the lives of patients with kidney disease. Don held 13 patents for catheter technology that benefited dialysis patients around the world.

He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology. Don was especially proud of his work helping bring dialysis clinics and kidney care to the Navajo, Hopi and Havasupai reservations, expanding access to care for communities that had too often been underserved. His work reflected both his technical brilliance and his belief that medical innovation mattered most when it reached the people who needed it.

Don is survived by his wife Esther; his three sons; a daughter-in-law; and two grandchildren.

He is also preceded in death by a daughter-in-law.  He also leaves behind his brother and his sister.

In lieu of flowers, the Schon family suggests donations to the Temple Chai Building Fund or the Anti-Defamation League Desert.