Dr. Walter Copley McLean

Walter Copley McLean

Dr. Walter Copley McLean, died at his home with family by his side on Friday, November 11, 2011, he was 89. Copley was born on May 5, 1922, in McBee, South Carolina, where his father, Walter Leod McLean, farmed and his mother, Annie Elam Copley McLean, taught history. At age six, he moved to South Hill, Virginia, with his mother, sister and brother, after the death of his father. Copley graduated as valedictorian from South Hill High School in 1939, and from Randolph Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, in 1943, where he was president of the student body, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Societies. He then attended the University of Virginia Medical School where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and received his MD in 1946. While in medical school, he married Margaret "Peggy" Kleppinger, a nursing student at the University of Virginia from Allentown, Pennsylvania, on November 25, 1944. After medical school, he interned at the University of Virginia Hospital until July, 1947, while serving as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy Medical Corp. From 1949 until July, 1952, he practiced family medicine in South Hill where he and his wife started their family. In 1952, Copley was appointed a fellow in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia under the guidance of Dr. Byrd Leavell before completing a residency in Otolaryngology. After obtaining his board certification, Copley joined the local practice of Hedges, Fitzhugh, Humphries, and Crigler. He practiced there as well as at the Martha Jefferson Hospital and at the University of Virginia Medical Center where he was a professor until his retirement in 1998. Over his 50 years of practicing medicine, residents greatly admired him as a mentor and valued his guidance. He was especially appreciated by his patients and staff for his empathy, his homespun wisdom and his warm bedside manner. In addition to a busy medical practice, Copley was a loving and devoted husband and father as well as a generous contributor to the community. With children at the local schools, he often was in the stands to cheer or on the sidelines to provide medical advice and care. Fall weekends found him faithfully at University of Virginia football games and he was a loyal supporter of the men's and women's basketball teams and the baseball team as well. He loved to wear his orange and blue. The family time at the farm along the Swift Run River in Greene County was rejuvenating for Copley as he enjoyed his friendships made through farming as well as time spent tending to his vegetable garden.

For nearly a decade, he was Chairman of the Charlottesville School Board and was praised for his integrity and courage and for his calm and judicious manner. He was a long time board member and officer of the Foxfield Racing Association, a board member of St. Anne's-Belfield School, a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, a long time member of the University of Virginia Medical School Admissions Committee, President of The Medical Society of Virginia, a board member of The University of Virginia Health Services Foundation, President of The Albemarle County Medical Society, President and Chairman of the Board of the Virginia Society of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, a member of Rotary International, and a lifelong member of both the University Medical Alumni Association and the Virginia Student Aid Foundation.

Copley is survived by his wife of 67 years, Peggy, his sister, Elizabeth M. Nanney; sisters-in-law, Elizabeth W. McLean, Elizabeth K. Cargill and Jean K. Langeloh; his children, Dr. W. Copley McLean Jr. and wife, Merri, of Asheville, North Carolina, Stephen Thomas McLean and wife, Caroline, of Charlottesville, Mark Andrew McLean and wife, Ann, of Richmond, Peter Kleppinger McLean and wife, Carol Ann, of Middletown, Delaware, Martha Elizabeth Rodgers and husband, Dr. Bradley Rodgers, of Greenwood, Virginia, and Christopher Laubach McLean of Charlottesville; 17 grandchildren, four great- grandchildren, nieces, nephews; and Lutrell Franklin who has been a loving member of the family for nearly 50 years.

Copley was preceded in death by his beloved daughter, Patricia Ann McLean; his brother, Mark; his daughter-in-law, Mary Mac Stroud McLean; and his nephew, Geoffrey Langeloh. The family would like to thank Dr. Barbara Post for her faithful medical care. The family also would like to express its deep appreciation to Pedro Llamas and his brothers, Jorge and Jose, for their remarkable devotion and care and to Loretta Starks, Wilbur Daniels, Ron Berube and Randy Seelye for their gentle and compassionate assistance. A memorial service will be held 12 p.m. Friday, December 9, 2011, at the University of Virginia Chapel.

In lieu of flowers, if one wishes, contributions may be made to the Walter Copley and Margaret Kleppinger McLean Scholarship Fund (recognizing medical students exhibiting compassionate, patient-centered care) c/o University of Virginia Medical Foundation, P.O. Box 800776, Charlottesville, VA 22908-0776.



This obituary was originally published in the Daily Progress.