Leon Lapides

Funeral services for Dr. Leon Lapides were held at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, November 20, 2012, in Riverdale Cemetery with Rabbi Beth Schwartz officiating according to Striffler-Hamby Mortuary, Columbus, GA. A memorial service will be held Sunday, December 9, 2012, at Temple Israel, Columbus, GA. with the time to be determined at a later date.

Dr. Lapides was born in Belzoni, Mississippi on May 29, 1916, was raised in Memphis, Tennessee and had lived 72 years in Columbus when he died November 19, 2012. Dr. Lapides was the second son of the late Jacob Lapides and Elizabeth Rosen Lapides, of Memphis, and is survived by his daughters, Deborah (Kent) Hirschfelder of St. Louis, Missouri, and Jo Ellen Lapides of Tampa, Florida, and son, David (Dianna) Lapides also of Tampa, Florida, two granddaughters, Melanie (Doug) Berkowitz of Northbrook, Illinois and Beth (Jeff) Wilensky of Ann Arbor, Michigan and five great grandchildren. His wife, Beverlye, died in 1992.

As was common in an earlier era, Dr. Lapides completed two years of college at Memphis State University, and graduated from the University of Tennessee Medical School in 1938. Dr. Lapides came to Columbus in 1940 to begin an internship program at City Hospital, today, The Medical Center. He later opened his own general practice in Columbus. While attending a medical conference in Chicago, Dr. Lapides and met Beverlye Weiss whom he married 1944. In the early 1950s, Dr. Lapides moved from Columbus to Washington D.C., to complete an ear, nose and throat residency program. After completing the residency program, he moved back to Columbus, where he re-established his medical practice. Dr. Lapides retired from his medical practice in 1987. He often said that he practiced during the golden age of medicine, after the discovery of penicillin and other modern medicines and before the bureaucracies took over.

Dr. Lapides was an organizer of the Columbus Blue Cross Plan in 1946 which, following mergers became part of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia in 1985. In the mid-1970s, Dr. Lapides was an organizer of Doctors Hospital.

Dr. Lapides was a member of Temple Israel.

He was a member of the Muscogee County Medical Society, the Medical Association of Georgia, the Georgia Society of Otolaryngology, and the American Medical Association.

He was a long time member of the Muscogee Lions Club. He was an avid flower and vegetable gardener, even if the neighborhood deer ate more of his vegetables than he did. He was an active member of the Columbus Men’s Garden Club and was a volunteer in the greenhouses at Callaway Gardens. Dr. Lapides was also an active supporter of Columbus State University’s art, music and theatre programs. An avid reader and a lifelong learner, Dr. Lapides attended many academic classes at CSU following his retirement from his medical practice. He has also served on the CSU Theatre Board. In recognition of his long-term support of the University, the Columbus State University Alumni Association named Dr. Leon Lapides an Honorary Alumnus in 2010.

In lieu of flowers, the family request that donations be made to the Lighthouse for the Blind (http://www.lionslighthouse.org/give/memorialgift) or to the Music or Theatre Departments of Columbus State University (http://giving.columbusstate.edu/s/1444/giving.aspx?sid=1444&gid=1&pgid=362).