FEEGEL, John R(ichard) 1932-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born November 16, 1932, in Middletown, CT; died September 16, 2003, in Tampa, FL. Physician, educator, attorney, and author. Feegel was a pathologist and medical examiner who drew on his scientific knowledge to write award-winning mystery novels. Sometimes described as a Renaissance man by those who knew him, he held a medical degree earned at the University of Ottawa in 1960, a law degree from the University of Denver, which he received in 1964, and a master's degree in public health from the University of Southern Florida, received in 1991. Licensed to practice medicine in four states, he was certified in medicine in 1965 and in pathology in 1966; he was also admitted to the Bar of Colorado in 1964 and the Bar of Florida in 1967. Feegel's career as a pathologist began in Florida, where he worked in several hospitals in Plantation, Tampa, and Plant City during the 1960s and 1970s. He was also a deputy medical examiner in Dade County in 1967, becoming a medical examiner in Hillsborough County in 1967 and chief medical examiner there from 1973 to 1977; at the same time, he was associate professor of pathology at the University of South Florida. After working in a Chapel Hill, North Carolina, hospital for a year, he then moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1978 to be director of the forensic pathology residency program at Emory University until 1981. In 1980, he added to his workload by joining the law firm of Mitzel, Mitzel & Feegel as a partner. Feegel published five mystery novels in his lifetime, including his first, Autopsy (1975), which won the Edgar Allan Poe Award the next year. His other novels include Death Sails the Bay (1978),The Dance Card (1981), Malpractice (1981), and Not a Stranger (1983). In addition, Feegel was the author of Legal Aspects of Laboratory Medicine (1973).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Grand Rapids Press (Grand Rapids, MI), September 21, 2003, p. A26.

St. Petersburg Times (St. Petersburg, FL), September 17, 2003, p. B1.