Patricia Gayle Engasser
Aug. 28, 1938-Oct. 12, 2025
Palo Alto, California
The only child and absolute apple of her parents Virginia and Raymond Engasser’s eye, Pat was raised in Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA. Always the overachiever, she got her first job at age three! A Hollywood agent saw Pat on a street corner and told her mother that the brown-eyed girl had to be in the movies. Known as a child actress who could master her lines and cry on demand, “Patsy Nash” appeared in 7 studio films during Hollywood’s golden age. Her precocious nature spilled over into school, where she skipped the third grade and at St. Anthony’s high school in Long Beach, she was the girl selected to take math and science on the boys’ campus. Though money was tight due to her father’s year-long battle with tuberculosis, her parents insisted that she attend her dream school – Stanford. And so, she joined the “’59 Forever” group, marked by decades of inspiration, adventure and enduring friendships.
Pat went through Stanford “burning the candle at both ends,” studying like crazy to get into medical school, which she started her senior year of college, and trying never to miss a party. Sleep was never high on Pat’s list of priorities. In the era when girls were expected to wear skirts to walk across the Stanford Quad, Pat graduated from Stanford Medical School in 1962 and from a Dermatology residency and fellowship in 1967. The opportunities Stanford gave her and sense of boundless optimism the school exuded made Pat a life-long, die-hard Stanford fan. For decades, she gave time and energy to the University – leading countless fundraising campaigns and reunion efforts, serving on innumerable committees, including those to nominate the Dean of the Medical School and Chair of the Dermatology Department, chairing the Stanford Parents’ Fund and being named Stanford Medical School’s first ever Dean of Alumni Affairs.
Stanford awarded her the Gold Spike in 1991, the University's highest honor for extraordinary volunteer service, recognizing individuals for long-term, exceptional contributions to the school. Her work at Stanford continued for decades as a Clinical Associate Professor of Dermatology, teaching and mentoring residents, a position she also held at UCSF Medical School. In retirement, Pat was an avid Stanford sports fan and enthusiastic participant in their Continuing Studies and Travel programs, which took her from the Silk Road to Macchu Picchu. It seemed only fitting that the Stanford Band and Dollies surprised her for her 80th birthday.
Grateful to Kaiser Permanente, where she practiced medicine for over 30 years, to her impressive colleagues and to all the patients she got to serve, Pat retired at 60 to focus on her family and travel. Her beloved parents, “Nana and Raymond,” helped her to raise her only child, Tina Rooke Jones, for whom her love and dedication knew no bounds. Tina and Pat traveled the world together – her daughter often in tow as Pat lectured on cosmetic reactions and contact dermatitis at conferences and universities in South America, Asia, Europe, and all over the U.S. Renowned in her field, she published over 35 papers, served on the Board and Executive Committee of the Academy of Dermatology and was recognized with numerous awards, including the Women’s Dermatologic Society’s Rose Hirschler Award for outstanding achievement in 2005, Practitioner of the Year by the San Francisco Dermatology Society in 2008, and the prestigious Dermatology Foundation’s Clark W. Finnerud Award in 2011, which acknowledged Pat as an exemplary teacher and practitioner who embodied the highest ideals of her specialty.
While she had an esteemed career, the Women’s Dermatologic Society published Pat’s true perspective in 2023, “Professional success for me is having a wonderful family whom I love. I would like to be remembered for being a good mother and grandmother.” After 34 years in Atherton, Pat moved to a house in Menlo Park adjacent to her daughter and “the world’s best son-in-law,” Warren Jones, to help raise their twins, Austin and Sophie Jones (now 24). “Nana” was more than a grandmother, she was a chauffeur and a cheerleader for her active grandchildren, believing in them and applauding them at every step along their journey.
Because Pat was an only child, her friends were her family. She loved the dinner parties, gift exchanges, trips to the theater, opera, symphony and ballet, the concerts and movies, and the museums that she visited in all corners of the world. Though she was a trailblazer who busted through many a glass ceiling, she did it in style and with grace, paying it forward by mentoring countless young doctors. A devout Catholic, curious, humble, open-minded, generous, and ceaselessly stylish, Pat will be missed by a large community of friends, family, and fans.
