Dr. Leila Denmark, Georgia’s Legendary Pediatrician, Passes Away at 114

We regret to inform our members of the death of Leila Denmark, MD, who died Sunday evening in Athens. Dr. Denmark was an icon of pediatrics in Georgia and the Chapter’s Lifetime Achievement Award is named in her honor. When we last visited her a few years ago, we asked if she had any advice for pediatricians today. She said, “Every child deserves a chance. Do what you can to help.” Those simple words are a fitting epitaph to this amazing pediatrician. She will missed by us all. The following is from news accounts of her passing and funeral arrangements and memorials.

 
Leila Daughtry Denmark, MD, 114, retired pediatrician and one of the world's oldest people, died April 1, 2012 at the home of her daughter in Athens,  Georgia.
 
Dr. Denmark was born on February 1, 1898 in Portal, Georgia in Bulloch County.  She received her M.D. degree in 1928 from the Medical College of the University of Georgia, now the Georgia Health Sciences University.  Shortly after graduation she married Mr. Denmark and moved to Atlanta where, following some volunteer work in hospital wards at Grady Hospital and at the Central Presbyterian Church Baby Clinic, she became the first resident of the newly opened Henrietta Egleston Hospital for Children, now Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and admitted its first patient. Following the birth of her daughter, Mary, Dr. Denmark opened her practice of pediatrics in her home in Atlanta in 1931 and continued in practice until her retirement in 2001 at the age of 103. At the time of her retirement she was the oldest practicing physician in the United States.

Over the years Dr. Denmark received a number of awards and some of these are the Fisher Award in 1935 for outstanding research in diagnosis, treatment, and immunization of whooping
cough; and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia Chapter-American
Academy of Pediatrics, which was later named in her honor.

Funeral services will be on Thursday, April 5 at 1 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Athens with burial in the Portal Cemetery on Friday, April 6 at 11 a.m. The family will receive friends from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. at the funeral home on Wednesday, April 4, and immediately following the service on Thursday.
 
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial gifts be made to the Medical College of Georgia Foundation, Augusta or the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation.  For further information about Dr. Denmark, go to her website, www.drleiladenmark.com.  Lord & Stephens East Chapel in Athens is in charge of arrangements. Their website is: www.lordandstephens.com