Dr. Morris Alex, a highly regarded and much-beloved cardiologist, died Sunday, Nov. 5, of pancreatic cancer at his home in Olivette, family members said. He was 91.

Dr. Alex, called “the heart doctor with a heart” by many of his patients because of his ongoing concern for their well-being, was active in the medical profession, medical academics and in the Jewish community of St. Louis.

A native of St. Joseph, Mo., Dr. Alex graduated from the University of Missouri Medical School in 1943. He served as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, where he was chief of medicine at the 10th General Hospital in the Philippines. After the war, Dr. Alex returned to St. Louis, where he set up a private practice until he retired in 1990. In 1955, he helped set up the City’s Home Care Program, the first of its kind west of the Mississippi. Among many other positions, he was a past-president of the Jewish Hospital Medical Staff and the St. Louis Heart Association, where he was a board member for 45 years. He served on the faculty of the Washington University School of Medicine for many years.

From 1949 to 1954, Dr. Alex’s research with two colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine on arteriosclerosis documented that the rate of calcification in blood vessels was related to the concentration of an enzyme called elastase, which is produced by the pancreas. His research on the connective protein elastin in the arteries led other researchers in the 1950s to findings on how cigarettes affect the lungs’ connective tissue.

Dr. Alex created a website for people who were not sure of how to question physicians, “Doctor, I’d Like to Ask You” (www.diltay.com.

Within the Jewish community, Dr. Alex was an active and involved member of Congregation B’nai Amoona. He served in numerous Jewish Federation annual campaigns, including several terms as chair of the Physicians Group within the Trades and Professions Division. At the old Jewish Hospital, he served as president of the Alumni Association and secretary of the hospital staff. He was a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and the American College of Physicians.

His wife of 63 years, Pearl Alex, died in 2006. Survivors include a son, Neil Alex of San Diego; two daughters, Debee Alex and Judy Ackerman, both of St. Louis; five grandchildren and six great- grandchildren.

Dr. Alex’s family paid tribute to his concern for his patients by establishing the Morris Alex, M.D. Prize Endowment at the Washington University School of Medicine. The honorarium from the fund is given to the sophomore student showing the “best bedside manner” in the school’s Introduction to Clinical Medicine class.

Memorial contributions may be made to the endowment at 7425 Forsyth Boulevard, Suite 2100, St. Louis, Mo. 63105; or to the Alex-Magnon Fund for Family Education at B’nai Amoona, 324 South Mason Road, Creve Coeur, Mo. 63141.