M. Samuel Noordhoff ’50

Dr. Sam, aged 91, died in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, due to complications from Parkinson’s disease.

Sam was born in Orange City, Iowa, the only child of Henry and Cynthia Noordhoff.  He attended Northwestern College, Hope College (BA), and University of Iowa (MD).  Sam also served two years in the US Navy.  Sam married Lucille in 1954.  They became missionaries of the Reformed Church in America in 1959, to Taiwan.  In Taipei, Sam worked at Mackay Memorial Hospital until 1976, when Sam helped establish Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.  Dr. Noordhoff is world renowned for his cleft lip and palate surgery techniques.

In 1989, Dr. Sam established the Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation, in Taipei, Taiwan.  Sam had other hobbies which included photography, hiking in the beautiful Taiwan mountains, and early morning tennis.

Dr. Sam is survived by his wife of 64 years, Lucille; his children, Nancy Lamberts (Robert) of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Samuel (Stacy Hall) of Dallas, Texas, Anne Lin (David) of Manhattan Beach, California, and Dirck, of Honolulu, Hawaii; 13 grandchildren; and four great grandchildren.