Melvin Greer,

Dr. Melvin Greer, the iconic first chair of the department of neurology at UF, died May 19, 2010. He was 80. Swaggering but kind, direct but tactful, confident yet humble — Greer embodied qualities that endeared him to his students and colleagues, according to his friends at the Health Science Center. He was the department chair who would go the extra mile for his faculty, the physician who would fill in for residents, and the father who considered students, faculty and residents as part of his own family.

Greer joined the College of Medicine faculty in pediatrics and neurology in 1961. He became the first chair of the department of neurology when it was created in 1974 and remained chair until 2000.

In that time, he trained about 150 residents and countless medical students in his field. For many years, he was the area’s only pediatric neurologist, colleagues say. He also was board-certified in adult neurology.

Dr. Greer graduated with a bachelor’s degree with honors in 1950 from the College of Arts and Pure Science at New York University, where he would go on to earn his medical degree in 1954. He served his internship and residency at Bellevue Hospital in New York and was a fellow in neurology at the New York Neurological Institute of the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.

He received several teaching awards from UF, including the 1970 Hippocratic Award and the 1975 and 1979 Award for Clinical Teaching Excellence as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award for his 49 years of service.