A new beginning is cut short; Doctor is mourned on two continents.

Byline: Sandy Meindersma

WORCESTER - As family, friends and diplomats gathered for yesterday's calling hours and funeral for Dr. Patrick C. Nyendwa, his sudden death just as he was beginning a new chapter in his life is being mourned on two continents.

Dr. Nyendwa, a native of Zambia, was recently issued his license to practice medicine in Massachusetts and was scheduled to begin work at the Worcester Internal Medicine Center. He had returned here last year after 13 years in Zambia to be with his family.

He died Monday after a brief illness.

He was a 1968 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross. He received his medical degree from the Type University of Zambia and completed his internal medicine and cardiology training and fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he worked from 1979 until 1992.

Dr. Nyendwa, 64, leaves his wife, Cecilia, a son, Chisenga, a student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and three daughters, Musonda and Chanda, who both graduated from Holy Cross in 2005, and Anita, a student at Clark University.

Dr. Nyendwa served as a personal physician to three presidents of Zambia, including current President Levy P. Mwanawasa and his predecessor, Fredrick Chiluba.

"He led a life of giving," said Dr. Boniface Kawimbe, a childhood friend. "He gave a lot more than received."

"He was a shining example in our country," said Newstead L. Zimba, acting ambassador from the Republic of Zambia. "To be a doctor takes a lot of time to train - most developing countries do not have doctors in his specialty."

"His services have been well-known (throughout our country)," Mr. Zimba said. "This is a broad sorrow for the citizens in our country."

Both men also eulogized their friend and colleague during the services held yesterday in St. Peter's Church.

In addition to caring for the presidents, Dr. Nyendwa served in several Zambian hospitals from 1992 until 2006, including the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, where he was named managing director in 1998.

Dr. Nyendwa also served on the National Sports Council of Zambia, the Medical Council of Zambia and the Zambia National Formulary Committee. He was chairman of the board of directors for Our Lady's Hospice for AIDS patients.

Dr. Nyendwa had many students at both the University Teaching Hospital and at UMass, and he made sure that they all learned what was expected.

"He didn't leave any of his students behind," Dr. Kawimbe said.

"Although Patrick is gone, his skills and knowledge will continue to reach patients throughout the world," Dr. Kawimbe said. "He is dead, but what he did is still alive."

On a personal level, Dr. Nyendwa was described as a very patient man, who made time for his patients and for his family.

"I never met anybody as patient as Patrick," Dr. Kawimbe recalled. "He must have had tremendous self-control. I never remember him losing his temper."

"He was a champion dad," his daughter, Chanda Nyendwa, said during her eulogy. "A lot of what I learned about being a teacher, I learned from him. He would always encourage all of us to go as far as we could go."

Miss Nyendwa also recalled how she and her siblings were able to go to work with their father, and they were able to see much of the United States and southern Africa by accompanying him on his business trips.

"The last thing he said to me (before he died) was, `Everything's going to be OK,'" Miss Nyendwa said.