In college, Dr. Preston Phillips had to make a decision — continue to play basketball or drop the sport to focus on the courses he needed to become a physician.
Ultimately, he chose school, recalled Dr. Komi Folly, a close friend and colleague of Phillips. Phillips said the decision was just the right thing to do, Folly recalled.
Phillips would go on to graduate from Harvard Medical School and hold fellowships at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital, records show, and eventually to work as an orthopedic surgeon at Saint Francis Health System in Oklahoma.
Phillips, 59, was at work in the Tulsa medical office on Wednesday when a gunman entered the facility and killed Phillips, another doctor, a receptionist, and a patient. The killer then turned the gun on himself. It was the latest in a series of deadly mass shootings across the country in recent weeks.
Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said the gunman had blamed Phillips for his back pain after a recent operation.
“We also have a letter on the suspect, which made it clear that he came in with the intent to kill Dr. Phillips and anyone who got in his way,” Franklin said. “He blamed Dr. Phillips for the ongoing pain following the surgery.”
Colleagues and friends remembered Phillips for his drive and accomplishments, which never seemed to translate to ego.
Phillips was one of nine siblings, his younger brother Phil Phillips told The Path & The Practice podcast, run by the law firm Foley & Lardner LLP, where Phil Phillips is a partner at the Detroit office.
In the 2020 podcast interview, Phil Phillips said that their family lived first in Atlanta and later in Saginaw, Mich., and that his brother Preston distinguished himself during his studies at Emory University in Atlanta, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in theology, a bachelor’s in chemistry, and a master’s in organic chemistry, all in four years.
“So in four years he got three degrees, including a master’s, which is insane, right?” said Phil Phillips. “So, when I got to Emory and they said, ‘You’re Preston Phillips’ brother.’ I said, ‘I’m here for one degree. I am not Preston.’ I think he studied more in high school than I probably did in law school. I mean, he was just off the charts.”
Those accomplishments were only the beginning. Phil Phillips told the podcast his brother then graduated with honors from Harvard Medical School, went to Yale and did a four-year residency in orthopedic surgery, and went back to Harvard for a one-year fellowship in spinal surgery.
“This is this poor guy from Saginaw, who used to push carts at K-Mart during the summer. So talk about motivation, right, as to what you can accomplish for somebody growing up in the projects,” Phil Phillips said.
Harvard Medical School Dean George Q. Daley said Preston Phillips’s death was another tragedy from gun violence.
“On behalf of the entire Harvard Medical School community, I share my deepest sympathy with all who knew and loved Dr. Phillips,” Daley said. “Tragically, this incident is the latest in a seemingly unending series of devastating shootings that serve as painful and recurring reminders that gun violence is a medical and public health crisis in this country.”
Phillips’s biography posted to the site of the Saint Francis Health System in Tulsa said he also had fellowships at Beth Israel and Boston Children’s.
Dr. Edward Rodriguez, chief of the Carl. J. Shapiro Department of Orthopaedics at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said Phillips has remained closely engaged with the hospital’s community since he trained in spine surgery at BIDMC in 1996.
“He was an exemplary surgeon and individual who represented all that is best in orthopedics. He was always devoted to his patients and a remarkable role model for residents and fellows. He will be missed by everyone who knew him and worked with him.”
Kevin Churchwell, CEO of Boston Children’s Hospital, also expressed sympathy for the victims of the Tulsa shootings.
“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the senseless and violent act that took Dr. Phillips’ talented and committed life,” Churchwell said. “This is yet another reminder of the pressing need for strong, effective, and comprehensive national gun safety legislation that addresses the escalating public health crisis of gun violence.”
Dr. Cliff Robertson, president and CEO of Saint Francis Health System, called Phillips “the consummate gentleman” and “a man that we should all strive to emulate.” He said the three employees who were killed were “the three best people in the entire world” and that they “didn’t deserve to die this way.”
Folly, who also works as executive president of the Light in the World Development Foundation, a nonprofit that delivers medical care and aid to Togo, Africa, said in an interview with the Globe that Phillips had been involved with the organization for over a decade. He was preparing to leave on another mission later this month.
Folly described Phillips as smart, talented, and humble. During the tense and stressful missions, Phillips was the one to make others laugh. People would refer to Phillips as MacGyver, Folly said, because he would always find a way to fix broken equipment.
On one mission, Phillips was called back to Tulsa to perform orthopedic surgery. He not only paid thousands of dollars for himself to return home to be there for a patient but also bought a ticket for a colleague as well. He then returned to Togo after the US surgery was complete.
“I’ve never seen anyone at our hospital as humble and lovely like this guy,” Folly said. “He’s one of our board members. Saint Francis is more than 10,000 employees. To be a board member, people need to see something in you.”
When the pair last spoke on Friday, Phillips randomly noted that if something should happen to him, that Folly shouldn’t abandon the mission work.
“Now I’m hoping I can find people like him,” Folly said. “If I can’t continue this, it’s like I kill him for a second time.”
Phillips had also coauthored a book about back pain with Dr. Augustus A. White III, the first Black department head at a Harvard-affiliated hospital. Titled “Your Aching Back: A Doctor’s Guide to Relief,” the book discusses back mechanics, according to an online summary.
Phillips was a dedicated family man and mentor, Folly said.
“He doesn’t deserve to die when he’s at work,” Folly said. “Someone shot him down in his office, in his lab coat. The hospital is supposed to be a safe place, a place where we save lives. Not the place we kill.”
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Jeremiah Manion of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
Jessica Bartlett can be reached at jessica.bartlett@globe.com. Follow her @ByJessBartlett. Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.