A former leader of Kansas University Medical Center has died at age 89.

David Waxman, who was executive vice chancellor of KUMC from 1978 to 1983, died Saturday at his home in Prairie Village. Waxman, a New York native, began his career at KU as an instructor of internal medicine in 1961, when there were 798 students on the Kansas City, Kan., campus.

He later became a full-time professor and dean of students before being named to the medical center’s top job.

By the time he retired, the number of students had grown to more than 2,500.

“It was my good fortune to serve as executive vice chancellor … during a period of remarkable growth characterized less by crises than by careful and deliberate planning,” Waxman wrote in an essay published in 1996.

Waxman also had a military career that included flying bombing missions in the Pacific during World War II.

He is survived by his wife, Jane, and six children. Services will be at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Louis Memorial Chapel in Kansas City, Mo. The family suggests memorial contributions to the David Waxman Scholarship Fund at the KU School of Medicine, sent in care of the KU Endowment Association.

“The University of Kansas Medical Center is a better institution because of Dr. Waxman’s service,” KU Medical Center Executive Vice Chancellor Barbara Atkinson, wrote in an e-mail to the medical school’s staff. “We can all honor his legacy by continuing to build on his record of achievement.”