Dr. Ralph Landes Obituary

Dr. Ralph Roy Landes, 78, of Monterey and Chicago, Ill., formerly of Danville, passed away Thursday evening, September 5, 1989.

Dr. Landes practiced urology in Danville from 1949 until 1985 and was the senior partner in the Danville Urologic Clinic until his retirement.

A native of Milwaukee, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin and from Rush Medical College of the University of Chicago. He served during the Second World War as a medical office with the 16th Evacuation Hospital in Africa and Italy.

Dr. Landes was teacher, writer and researcher as well as a practicing physicians. He was clinical professor of urology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and a lecturer in medical history at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University. He was the author of more than 150 articles published in medical journals and frequently presented papers at scientific meetings.

Dr. Landes was a member of the Danville-Pittsylvania Academy of Medicine, the Medical Society of Virginia and the American Urological Association, which he served for 14 years as historian.

He was a past president of the Mid-Atlantic Section of the American urological Association and belonged to the Society of the University Urologists and the International Society of Urology.

He was a fellow so the American College of Surgeons and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. He belonged to the Church of the Epiphany and the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History. He served on the boards of trustees of the Science Museum of Virginia and Averett College.

Dr. Landes is survived by his wife, the former Elizabeth Lightner; a son, John L. Landes of Nashville, Tenn.; and a daughter, Elizabeth M. Landes, wife of Barry Levenstam of Chicago.

Services will be held at Obaugh Funeral Home in McDowell Tuesday at 2 p.m., with interment following in Monterey Cemetery. Dr. Robert Gue and the Rev. C. William Cox will officiate.

Pallbearers will be Dr. Carrington Harrison, Hartwell and Gessner Harrison, Randy Richardson, Ralph Hammer, Geoff Cox, Dennis O'Hearn and Kyle Almond.

Honorary pallbearers will be Bruce Richardson, Glen Hammer, George McWhorter, James Thompson, Joseph Pritchard, W.R. Dixon, John Newlon and H.H. Whitelaw.

A memorial service will be held at the Church of the Epiphany, Danville, Va. Saturday, October 14, 1989 at 2 p.m.