Dr. Levi Watkins Jr.

1944 - 2015

Dr. Levi Watkins, Jr., was born in Parsons, Kansas on June 13, 1944. He was the first son of Lillian and Levi Watkins, and he joined sisters Annie Marie and Emma Pearl. Later the family would welcome sister Doristine Louise and brothers Donald Varnado and James Allison.

Levi attended grade schools in Alabama and Tennessee, and spent his high school years at Alabama State University Laboratory High in Montgomery, Alabama. He experienced firsthand the civil rights struggles of the 1950's and 1960's. This resulted in a lifelong commitment to fighting racial discrimination wherever he found it.

Levi excelled in his undergraduate years at Tennessee State University, and became the first African American student to be admitted to and graduate from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. After leaving Vanderbilt, Levi began his residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital. There, he became the first black chief resident of cardiac surgery. At Hopkins, Levi was a pioneer both in cardiac surgery and in civil rights. He performed the first implantation into a human of the automatic heart defribillator. He also pioneered in the recruiting and mentoring of minority students.

Levi died on April 11, 2015, doing what he loved most, speaking to prospective medical students. He will be remembered not only for his transformative achievements, but also for the deep personal connections he made with people from all walks of life - young and old, mighty and humble. He valued excellence and did not abide pretensions.

Levi was predeceased by his parents, Levi, Sr. and Lillian Watkins, sister Emma Pearl McDonald, Brothers-in-law Hamp McDonald and Michael O. Garraway, and nephew Derek Minott.

Levi leaves to cherish his memory his sisters, Annie Marie Garraway (Ira W. Deep) and Tina Minott, brothers Donald V. Watkins and James A. Watkins (Annie Marie), his aunt, Johnnie Watkins, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. He also leaves "adopted sister" (cousin) Beverly Guy-Sheftall, special friends DeAndra Watkins and Debra Frangikis, and godson, Kenneth Winston.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Levi Watkins, Jr., M.D. Endowed Scholarship Fund at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Make checks payable to Johns Hopkins University, and include a note that the gift is in Levi's memory. Send gifts to: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Development Office, 750 East Pratt Street/17th floor, Baltimore, MD 21202. Gifts can also be made online at https://secure.jhu.edu/form/somt. Please call 410-361-6533 with questions. Arrangements entrusted to the Redd Funeral services.