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Dr. Charles Aubrey “Mickey” LeMaistre, whose tenure as chancellor of the University of Texas System included the opening of San Antonio’s health science center and UT campus, died Jan. 28 of natural causes. He was 92.
Among his many career highlights, LeMaistre was one of 10 experts serving on the 1964 U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health that linked cigarette smoking to lung cancer and other pulmonary diseases.
“He was the youngest one on the committee, and it started a lifelong commitment to reduce the exposure of people to tobacco,” son Dr. Frederick LeMaistre said.
One year later Congress mandated a health warning be placed on all U.S. cigarette packaging.
“My father was someone who cared deeply for the human condition. He was a servant leader,” his son said.
In 1947, LeMaistre received his medical degree from Weill Medical College of Cornell University. It was there, in New York City, that he completed his residency and a fellowship in tuberculosis and infectious diseases.
LeMaistre started his career working for the U.S. Public Health Service as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer while also teaching classes at Cornell.
On weekend leave from the EIS, LeMaistre noticed Joyce Trapp playing tennis. A friend helped with introductions, and a year later the two were married.
“She was a force,” Frederick LeMaistre said about his mother. As their family grew, her management of their public and private lives helped LeMaistre become influential in his field, her son said. She died of cancer in 2003.
LeMaistre left Cornell in 1954 to teach at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. Later he became a professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and in 1965 he became an associate dean.
In 1971, LeMaistre became chancellor of the University of Texas System. Under his leadership, the system expanded in San Antonio and Houston.
He started an 18-year career as president the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 1978.
Although he received numerous awards, “what was most important to him was improving the human condition,” his son said.
Charles Aubrey LeMaistre
Born: Feb. 10, 1924, Lockhart, Alabama
Died: Jan. 28, 2017, Houston
Preceded by: Wife Joyce LeMaistre; parents John LeMaistre and Edith LeMaistre
Survived by: Wife Andreae LeMaistre; children C. Frederick LeMaistre, M.D., William S. LeMaistre, Anne Philo LeMaistre, M.D., Helen Meyer; and numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, friends and family.
Services: Interment 1 p.m. March 7 at the Texas State Cemetery, 909 Navasota St, Austin, followed by a 5 p.m. reception at the Headliners Club, 221 W 6th St, Austin.
After his wife’s death, LeMaistre married Andreae “Andi” LeMaistre. The couple worked to help cancer sufferers from various socioeconomic backgrounds find access to care.
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