Dr. James M. Flynn was a pathologist who served as Director of Laboratories and Medical Technology at Research Medical Center for more than 30 years. Dr. Flynn was actively engaged in community service and joined The Research Foundation Board of Directors in 1996. Dr. Flynn served in various leadership roles during his 22 years of service from 1996 to 2018. His leadership helped position The Research Foundation to make a real difference in its many health education and scholarship programs for the greater Kansas City community he loved. Dr. Flynn was appointed as an honorary board member to The Research Foundation Board of Directors in 2019. He passed away in 2023 at the age of 94.
Francie remembers her husband, Jim, as a man of deep generosity and unwavering purpose. He dedicated himself to medicine, to his community, and to the people he loved.
Dr. Flynn earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa in 1951. He went on to complete medical school at Iowa in 1956 — the same campus where he and Francie built the foundation of their life together. They married while they were still in school. She finished nursing school; he finished medical school. Then babies arrived and their life took on many adventures.
When Jim accepted a position at Research Medical Center, he immersed himself in community engagement. His expertise and leadership shaped organizations across the region, including The Research Foundation. Jim strengthened the foundation’s investment strategy, helping ensure long-term support for nursing and community health programs. His influence continues to shape the foundation’s work years after his passing.
Establishing an endowment for The Research Foundation’s symposium wasn’t just appropriate; it was meaningful. For Francie, the $300,000 donation is a way of expressing gratitude. She received a scholarship as a mother pursuing nursing. Jim, too, fought for his education.
“The fund seemed like the perfect way to remember Jim. This is our way of saying thank you for our education, for our careers, for the life we built,” Francie says. “He spent so many years with Research. I know he would be happy.”
The endowment supports medical professionals seeking to renew credentials and deepen their clinical knowledge. The inaugural symposium supported by the fund, the Dr. James M. Flynn Symposium on Advancing Cancer Care for Primary Care Providers, took place in spring 2026. Through the symposium, generations of medical professionals will carry on too, strengthened by the same commitment to learning, humanity, and service that defined Jim and Francie’s extraordinary life together.
