Dr. Richard F. Leighton

1931 - 2023

News story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer

Dr. Richard F. Leighton, a dean emeritus of the Medical College of Ohio and its first chief of cardiology, died Sunday at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Ga., where he was hospitalized after being struck by a vehicle. He was 91.

He suffered brain trauma Feb. 1 when he was hit as he walked across a downtown Savannah street, his family said Wednesday.

Formerly of Ottawa Hills and Waterville, Dr. Leighton and his late wife, Frances, moved to Savannah in 1997. He'd retired the year before from MCO as senior vice president for academic affairs and dean of the school of medicine.

"One of the things about Dr. Leighton that really left an imprint on many of us was his level of professionalism," said Dr. Christopher Cooper, also a cardiologist, who is dean of what is now the college of medicine and life sciences at the University of Toledo.

His demeanor and behavior were "emulated by many," Dr. Cooper said. "He cut a big example for those of us who had an opportunity to work with him. He was a very kind man, and a gentleman. He was a pleasure to be around."

Though retired, Dr. Leighton in 1998 became a cardiologist and professor of medicine at Mercer University in Savannah. From 1998-2018, he was chairman of the institutional review board of the Memorial Health University Medical Center, where until the coronavirus pandemic he worked with medical residents from Mercer. He also was medical director of the Center for Heart Disease Prevention at St. Joseph's Candler Health System in Savannah from 2007-15.

"When there was a chance to stay involved in medicine, he just took it," his son Brian Leighton said Wednesday. "He enjoyed his life in Savannah. He found a new community of friends. In his professional life, he made new connections at two hospitals. That did enrich his final years."

MCO hired Dr. Leighton in 1974 as a professor of medicine and the first chief of cardiology since the college was founded a decade earlier. He had been director of cardiac catheterization laboratories at Ohio State University and in his new role aimed to set up an up-to-date catheterization lab, an expanded cardiac care unit, and a station to perform then-new techniques in echocardiography and nuclear cardiology, he wrote in A Community of Scholars - Recollections of the Early Years of the Medical College of Ohio.

He chronicled the challenges of early MCO facilities and advances in research, training, and care - and the December, 1979 move to a new campus. A 1986 Stranahan Foundation grant to investigate the effects of diet and exercise in lowering cholesterol levels resulted in the "Toledo Diet and Exercise Study," which brought together investigators from four departments and involved the screening of more than 1,000 MCO employees. Calling 1988 a "landmark year," he wrote of new procedures and of the first heart transplant performed at MCO.

"If there was a Medical College of Ohio Hall of Fame, Dr. Leighton would be in the first class of inductees," said James Winkler, a former MCO director of communications. "He was an icon at MCO. So many innovative diagnostic and treatment procedures for heart disease were developed in the 1970s and 1980s, and he made sure those techniques were available at MCO Hospital for Toledo and northwest Ohio patients."

Dr. Leighton was named a vice president and dean of the school of medicine in 1990, as his daughter, Dr. Kimberly Leighton Wolboldt, was an MCO student. While stopping to chat at nurses' stations, she received stories of admiration.

"'Are you Dr. Leighton's daughter?" said a patient she'd introduced herself to. "He just went on and on about how much Dr. Leighton meant to him," Dr. Leighton Wolboldt said.

Mr. Leighton recalled family outings to a dinner or movie at which "inevitably someone would come up to him and say 'Dr. Leighton, You saved my life.' That made an impression on me growing up, that he managed to touch so many lives. He was proud of the care he provided for his patients. He loved the academic side of his career."

Dr. Amira Gohara, Dr. Leighton's successor as dean, said that his impact on the medical college "is felt until this day, because of what he developed, how strong a dean's office he had, strong researchers. He was well respected and loved by all who knew him."

"He mentored me in addition to being my boss and my dear friend," said Dr. Gohara, a former interim president of MCO, who is chairman of pathology and professor at UT's college of medicine.

Richard Frederick was born Feb. 27, 1931, to Leona and Herbert Leighton in Oakland, Md., and grew up in the family funeral home. He received a bachelor's degree from Western Maryland College, and followed his older brother, Herbert, in studying medicine. The younger Dr. Leighton received his medical degree in 1955 from the University of Maryland. He later served in the Navy's school of aviation medicine in Pensacola, Fla., and then became a Navy flight surgeon based in Hawaii and then Guam.

A series of heart attacks his father suffered in his 60s sparked his interest in cardiology.

Dr. Leighton, a former member of Epworth United Methodist Church, played tennis and golf and enjoyed swimming and bicycling. His world travels took him to Iran, Easter Island, Kenya, and Cuba and included a six-month sabbatical in France, where he learned gourmet cooking.

He and the former Frances Scaggs married Aug. 19, 1953. She died March 9, 2009.

Surviving are his life partner for the last 13 years, Sylvia Kleiman Fields; daughter, Dr. Kimberly Leighton Wolboldt; sons Brian Leighton and Fred Leighton; three grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.

Guests may call from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. Thursday and Friday at Fox & Weeks Funeral Directors, Savannah. A memorial service will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at Skidaway Island United Methodist Church, Savannah, Ga., with a livestream available via siumc.org/videos.

The family suggests tributes to the Richard F. and Frances S. Leighton Scholarship at utfoundation.org/give/giveonline.aspx; or 4510 Dorr St., MS #820 Toledo, 43615-4040, or via utfoundation@utoledo.edu.