Warren Jay Lieberman

August 29, 1930 - October 4th, 2014

LIEBERMAN, WARREN JAY Passed away Saturday, October 4th, after surviving a four-year diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer. He was born August 29, 1930, to Irving and Ann (Singer) Lieberman in Long Branch, N.J., where the Lieberman family had lived since 1890. In 1934 the family moved to Trenton, N.J. to be part of the Singer family-owned "5 and 10 cent-store" business, and then to Miami Beach in 1937. In 1937 his father founded "Tommy Tucker Ice Cream," which sold ice cream on the streets of Miami for the next 30 years, and supplied ice cream to most of the public elementary school cafeterias in Dade Co. Warren attended Central Beach Elementary, Ida M. Fisher Junior High and Miami Beach Senior High (class of 1948), where he was manager of the basketball team, member of the National Honor Society, the B-Club, and Satans Fraternity, and served as assistant Athletic Director under the faculty athletic director, Al Cox. He attended Emory University where he was president of his fraternity (Alpha Epsilon Pi) and a member of the undergraduate honor society. He graduated from Tulane Medical School in 1957 honored as a Member of Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. There, at Tulane/Sophie Newcomb, he met and married his beloved Patricia. After interning at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami in 1957, he took his Ophthalmology training at Ochsner Clinic and Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, where he was chief resident for two years. He returned to Miami in 1961 and joined Dr's. Harry Horwich and David Kasner in the private practice of Ophthalmology. During the next 25 years he also served on the volunteer faculty of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute as assistant professor in the glaucoma department. He was one of the founding members of the Miami Ophthalmological Society and served as its executive secretary for five years and subsequently its president. In 1976 he founded the South Florida Ophthalmological Self-Insuring Trust, a medical liability self-insuring trust for South Florida ophthalmologists. He served as its President and CEO until his death. In 1987 he instituted a similar trust for dentists in the South Dade area. In 1995 he and Dr. Henry Trattler, with the executive assistance of Leslie Spektor (wife of Dr. Frank Spektor), led the formation of the Center for Excellence in Eye Care at Baptist Hospital. He served as Medical Director of the center until his retirement in 2001. Originally formed with a total of 10 ophthalmologists, it has grown over the years to be the largest private ophthalmology center in Florida. He was very devoted to ophthalmology and to his patients and truly loved the practice of medicine. He was also active in many administrative capacities, having served as president of 6 different company, homeowner, and condominium boards, and as a member of boards of directors of numerous other corporations, associations and country clubs. He loved boating, golfing (although, as he often said, he was never a very good "linkster"), traveling, his patients, his family and his darling Pat. He leaves Patricia, his wife of 57 years, three much loved sons, Arthur, Richard (Mina) and David, and 4 grandchildren, Bryan, Jeffery, Jake and Zoe. Services will be held on Tuesday, October 7th at 1:30PM at Temple Judea, located at 5500 Granada Blvd. in Coral Gables. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the UM Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center (Sylvester.org) or the charity of your choice.