"When I was a kid, he was treating a young man who had leukemia," Anne Sage said. "He came home one day and said, 'I don't think he's going to make it,' and began crying."

Dr. Sage died Thanksgiving eve at his Wai'alae-Kahala home. He was 86.

"He was kind of like an old-fashioned country doctor," Anne Sage said of her father, who was twice elected chief of staff at The Queen's Medical Center (1981-88). He was also a former Hawai'i Heart Association president (1968-70) and medical director at Arcadia retirement residence (1966-67).

"His patients were his friends," she added. "They'd come by to just say hi to the doc. One man from Hau'ula used to bring him fresh chicken and lemons."

Dr. Sage, who was born in New York City, grew up in Schuyler, Va., and graduated from University of Virginia Medical School in 1948.

He joined the U.S. Public Health Service and came to Hawai'i in 1950. In January 1957, he was assigned to New Orleans, a tour that would last only six months. He resigned his commission in June 1957 rather than remain in New Orleans for four years and expose his children to racially segregated schooling, his family said.

Dr. Sage and his family returned to Honolulu. He joined the now-defunct Fronk Clinic, where he specialized in internal medicine and geriatric medicine.

Survivors include his wife of 66 years, the former Evelyn C. Updike; daughter, Anne, son, William "Bill" Sage IV; and four grandchildren.

Services are scheduled for Tuesday at 12:45 p.m., at Diamond Head Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Hawa'i Heart Association.