For more than five decades, Willie J. Banks Jr. was a trusted surgeon and a medical asset to Virginia and Washington, D.C. His skills served patients in a wide range of settings, and his commitment to caring for others was a family legacy that continues after his death on May 21 at age 81.

“The man is very accomplished,” Banks’ lifelong friend John T. Fleming said. “When you look at his resume and his credentials you’re not going to have any problem acknowledging him as an outstanding citizen.”

Banks was born on July 4, 1943, in Richmond to Willie J. Banks, Sr. and Corrine E. Banks, the last of the family’s eleven children. Fleming said “Dr. B” benefited from both a nurturing home life and dedicated teachers.

Banks excelled in school, graduating from Maggie L. Walker High School in 1961 as a member of the National Honor Society. In 1965, he graduated with honors and a bachelor of science in 1965 from Virginia Union University after serving as president of the Student Government Association and Pan-Hellenic Council.

Banks’ interest in medicine and caring for others showed early. His classmate and friend Charles Saw recalled how Banks contributed to the school football team by assisting the nurse and doctor on the field.

Banks furthered his education at the Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., graduating with honors and a doctor of medicine degree in 1970.

Following his residency, Banks began a medical career that spanned the D.C. and Northern Virginia areas, including time at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. His mission of community service was shared by his siblings Marshall, who served as a urologist and later Catholic deacon, and Joan, the former executive director of the Gold Bowl Classic college football games.

Beyond his medical practice, Banks pursued further studies at Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, New York University and Yale University School of Medicine.

He was initiated in spring 1963 into the Virginia Union University chapter of Alpha Gamma of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., served as chapter polemarch for several years and was a member of the fraternity’s Eastern Province board of directors.

He served in the U.S. Navy and is remembered as an outgoing yet humble man who never stopped learning and was always a welcome presence.

“Willie was a special guy, he was very unique,” Shaw said, “He would extend his hand to anyone, [and was] very knowledgeable, not just in medicine.”

Banks is preceded in death by his parents and his 10 older siblings. He is survived by his sister-in-law Kathy D. Banks, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. There will be no public funeral service.