November 10, 1941- April 28, 2023

Joel Edward Haas died on April 28th, 2023 in Issaquah after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was born on November 10, 1941, in New Kensington, PA to Gretchen (Morgan) and Benton Haas. He met and fell in love with Carolyn Schuck at Thiel College. Joel and Carolyn married after their graduation in 1963 and Joel entered University of Pittsburgh Medical School. After graduating from Pitt, Joel completed his internship and residency in pathology at the Presbyterian-University Hospital in Pittsburgh. He completed his pediatric pathology residency at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. In 1975, Joel and Carolyn made the move to Mercer Island, WA, where they lived for many years. Joel was head of the Pathology Division, Department of Laboratories at Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, Seattle and associate professor of pathology and adjunct professor of pediatrics at UW School of Medicine. In 1994, they moved to Detroit, MI, where he was chief of pathology and director of Laboratory Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and professor of pathology for Wayne State University School of Medicine. They made a final move back to the Seattle area to retire in 2007. In addition to medicine, Joel had many passions – family, music and singing, flyfishing and travel. He took his role as a father seriously, raising three girls with Carolyn. Music, especially opera, was transformative for him and a gift he shared with his daughters. He had a beautiful tenor/baritone voice, singing in college and church choirs where he was a frequent soloist. He was an avid flyfisherman who spent many hours plying the rivers of the PNW as well as Mexico, and Christmas and Andros Islands. Joel and Carolyn traveled the world to view birds and wildlife in Tanzania, the Amazon, Galapagos and the Paternal. Joel is survived by his wife of 60 years, Carolyn, his daughters – Cathy Cameron (Scott), Laura Haas (Kent Gibson), Wendy Haas (Scott Boyd), his grandchildren- Sarah Gibson (Mark), David Gibson, Eric Boyd and Ryan Boyd, as well as three sisters, and multiple cousins, nieces and nephews.

A celebration of Joel’s life will take place on Sunday, October 6, 2024 from 1-5 PM at Salty’s on Alki in Seattle WA.

Donations in his memory may be made to The American SIDS Institute (www.sids.org) or The Alzheimer’s Foundation (www.alzfdn.org).