Howard University cancer specialist LaSalle Leffall, Jr. died of cancer May 25 in Washington, DC. He was 89.
Leffall spent more than 50 years as part of Howard’s medical teaching staff and trained more than 6,000 future physicians and 300 surgical residents, according to The Washington Post. He also chaired Howard medical school’s department of surgery for 25 years and was the first African American president of the American Cancer Society, the American College of Surgeons, the Society of Surgical Oncology, and the Society of Surgical Chairmen.
Leffall was born in Tallahassee on May 22, 1930, and at the age of 15 graduated as valedictorian of Stevens High School in Quincy, Florida. He then enrolled at what is now Florida A&M, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1948. Leffall started medical school at Howard University College of Medicine and graduated at the top of his class four years later.
...
