Peter H. Gott, M.D. Found His Voice by Being Himself

 

 

Physician and columnist, Peter H. Gott died June 13. He was the most famous syndicated medical columnist in the country, receiving 2,500 letters weekly.

 

 

I was proud to publish his books and proud to call him a friend. I visited him  in his Connecticut home once or twice and he came to Fresno once.

His hometown obituary didn’t mention his friend Pat Miller. They had been a couple for two decades and I know she added love, warmth, and direction to his life.

When I was trying to sell Peter on the idea of doing the No Flour, No Sugar Diet book he would only respond that, if we put one word on each page, it would only be 4 pages long. His diet was that simple.

One day when I was talking to Pat on the phone, she said, “We’ll get him to do that diet book” and, at that moment, I knew we would.

I think Peter was glad Pat came on board with the diet book idea, it was the book that made him a New York Times best-selling author and was a grand cap to a fabulous career of helping people.

People ask me what I mean when I say you need to put your voice into your writing. When Peter wrote, he wrote with humor, warmth, and compassion, three characteristics that were part of his spirit. Peter cared about people and he thought doctors were often “pompous asses” and this came  through no matter the subject he was writing about.

He’ll be missed.

Just a write thought.