J. Leonard Brandt, M.D., 83, of West Hartford, formerly of Montreal, P.Q., Canada, and Brooklyn, NY, died Wednesday (June 18, 2003). Born in Brooklyn, NY, he was the son of the late William and Anna (Wolfe) Brandt.
He graduated from the University of Michigan, and received his medical degree from State University of New York Downstate Medical School, Brooklyn, NY. Dr Brandt was a U.S. Army Veteran of World War II. He was Senior Physician and Chief of Medicine at The Jewish General Hospital in Montreal from 1959 until 1979. He was also a faculty member at McGill School of Medicine for two decades, with research accomplishments in kidney disease and the artificial kidney, and in the newly emerging Science of Geriatrics.
From 1979 to 1989, he was named Director of Medical Services at the Hebrew Home & Hospital in Hartford and Director of Geriatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital in Hartford. Dr Brandt was a Professor of Medicine at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, he retired in 1989.
Among many other accomplishments here, he was instrumental in the initiation of an Academic Division of Geriatrics in the then, Travelers Center on Aging (now the University of Connecticut Center of Aging), and in the recruitment of Richard Besdine, M.D. (who is now the President of the American Geriatrics Society) as its first Director.
Although Dr Brandt retired from the Hebrew Home & Hospital in 1989, he remained active in teaching and was an inspiration to many for years afterwards. He was a member of the American College of Physicians, the American Physiological Society, the American Geriatrics Society and the New York Academy of Sciences.
He was also a member of Congregation Beth Israel, West Hartford, and his hobbies included golf and writing a book about Brooklyn.
Throughout his medical career he was best known and loved for his devotion to teaching, his admiration for all involved in patient care, his astounding diagnostic skills, and his unique bedside manner. He was a profoundly compassionate physician.
He was the beloved husband of Irma (Silver) Brandt; devoted father of Dr James D. Brandt and his wife, Karen of Sacramento, CA; and Dr Stephanie A. Brandt of New York, NY; brother of Selma Schecter of Ft. Lauderdale, FL; and cherished grandfather of Julia, Hannah, and Michael Brant.
From the Montreal Gazette, June 28th, 2003