Widely recognized as a towering figure in the field of medicine, a brilliant surgeon and educator who broke color barriers while reaching the pinnacle of his profession, Dr. LaSalle D. Leffall Jr., died on May 25 in Washington, D.C. at age 89.
While his legacy extends throughout academia and the American medical community, Leffall was most closely associated with two historically Black institutions, Howard and Florida A & M universities. He entered FAMU as an undergraduate at age 15, graduated at 18, and later established an endowed scholarship in honor of this parents. He then attended Howard’s medical school and later chaired the department of surgery.
“He was a surgeon par excellence, oncologist, medical educator, civic leader, and mentor to me and so many others,” said Howard President Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick, who studied under Leffall.
“I will always cherish that the first procedure that I conducted as a fully-accredited surgeon at Howard University was alongside Dr. Leffall in what was ultimately his final operation before retirement,” Frederick wrote this week in a letter to the Howard community.
Among his numerous ground-breaking achievements, Leffall was the first African-American to serve as national president of the American Cancer Society, the Society of Surgical Oncology and the American College of Surgeons.
Leffall was born in Tallahassee, Fla., on the campus of what was then Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College, where his father was a professor of agriculture. Still in his teens, Leffall began his prodigious ascent by graduating summa cum laude in 1948 and entering Howard’s medical school where he also excelled, graduating first in his class.
After completing his surgical training at Freedmen’s Hospital—now Howard University Hospital — he was accepted into the prestigious Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for surgical oncology training.
