Longtime Wichita physician and YMCA supporter Jim Farha ‘made Wichita a better place’

Seven decades ago, a scared young man named Suhayl Jamil Farha left his native Lebanon with — by order of his mother — cash sewn into his hip pocket to pursue his dream of being a doctor in America.

He changed his name to S. Jim Farha because “he wanted to be American as bad as he could be,” said his son, Todd.

The hardscrabble-to-success story of “Dr. Jim,” as he came to be known, includes his rise to being a successful cardiothoracic surgeon with the largest surgical practice in Kansas and also a major influence in the Wichita community, where he moved to be with family already here.

Farha, 88, died of congestive heart failure on Friday.

“I am sorry that he is no longer with us, but he left a great impact and imprint on the community,” said Russ Meyer, Farha’s friend of almost 46 years.

“He made Wichita a better place, and particularly for young men and women who need a hand.”

Nowhere are his leadership and philanthropic efforts more evident than with the Greater Wichita YMCA, where 30,000 children a year use the Farha Sports Centers. The Andover YMCA also is named for Farha.

Along with financial support, Farha devoted time to the YMCA system for decades. He extolled its benefits to the community and once publicly wished he’d had something like that growing up.

“I probably would have gotten less in trouble.”

YMCA president and CEO Ronn McMahon called Farha a “critical leader and donor.”

“He very much believed that the Y helped kids . . . develop character in sports (and) helped those less fortunate,” Todd Farha said. “I believe that growing up with need as he did, he felt a strong obligation to help others have opportunities he didn’t.”

Steve Clark, another major YMCA supporter, said that “in spite of all the obstacles that Jim faced and all the success he achieved, he never lost . . . his tremendous sense of humility.”

“He achieved the American dream, but he also achieved it . . . with class and character,” Clark said. “He just never quit talking about how he appreciated the opportunities that were presented to him in coming to this country.”

Todd Farha said his father had to study twice as hard as others in school because he was learning English as he went.

To make money while in school, Farha said his father cleared brush for the Appalachian Power Co. and drew blood for the Department of Health “in the tough neighborhoods of Washington, D.C.”

In 1963, Farha, along with his well-known late brother, a general surgeon named George, and another physician, founded what is now known as Wichita Surgical Specialists through which he offered some of the first heart surgeries in the area.

“He was a great mentor, a great teacher,” said Tom Estep, who joined the practice in 1982 after completing his residency.

Estep called Farha “a master surgeon” and “true gentleman” who put patients first and encouraged colleagues, which resulted in Estep furthering his education to become a heart transplant surgeon.

“Dr. Jim always said, ‘We have patients that need this procedure. We don’t need to send them away.’ ”

After the Farha brothers retired in 1997, there was a party in which Alex Ammar, their nephew and the practice’s CEO, compared and contrasted the two as “George the sweetheart” and “Jim the tiger.”

“Sweetheart George, the diplomat, Tiger Jim the confrontationist,” Ammar said in his remarks. “Sweetheart George the negotiator, Tiger Jim the mandator. . . . Sweetheart George would hire, Tiger Jim would fire.”

Ammar said that “Sweetheart George would offer a blank check, Tiger Jim would offer a 50% discount.”

“Actually, he had a very big heart,” Ammar said of Jim Farha, “but you had to get through the exterior toughness to get down to his heart.”

George Farha’s widow, Brenda, said her brother-in-law “was really a softie inside, but he sure didn’t want anybody knowing that for a long time.”

“He was focused and determined and strong and tough and absolutely feisty. He and his brother blended beautifully.”

Ammar said “feisty” is “a nice way to put it. He was a little bit more than feisty.”

Clark said Farha was “very hard-nosed, very opinionated,” but he said they mostly agreed on things.

“I think that’s why we became good friends.”

If they disagreed, he said, “He would let you know, but he would never let you know in a rude or disrespectful way.”

Brenda Farha said passion also defined Jim Farha.

“He didn’t like things,” she said. “He loved things passionately.”

Trees, for instance.

“He planted hundreds and hundreds,” Farha said.

She said he didn’t hire someone to plant them but did it himself.

Jim Farha also relished dancing and playing cards, once joking that his side of his tombstone should read, “He loved cards.”

His wife, Darla, preceded him in death in 2003. They have four children: Maria Farha Blewster, Mark S. Farha, Todd S. Farha and Tiffany V. Farha.

“He did have a legendary work ethic, but he also was very much a family man,” Todd Farha said.

“He was . . . my sounding board, my friend, my confidant. But I think we’ll all miss his strength of character and the example he set.”

Farha’s funeral is at 10 a.m. on Wednesday at St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral.

This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 5:06 PM.