Leonard L. Deitz, M.D., of Missoula, Mont., formerly of Silver Spring, passed away peacefully on March 1. He was born on Feb. 11, 1926, in Raleigh, N.C., to Jacob and Sarah Satisky Deitz. After completing his undergraduate education in two years at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and his medical degree in four years through a combined program with UNC and the University of Maryland, he did a surgical residency in Boston.
It was during this time, while on a surgical rotation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City, he met a nurse who later became his wife, Esther Leah Wein Deitz, who preceded him in death on May 11, 2012. In 1955, a few months after completing his residency and having their first child, David, they moved to Maryland, where he established a surgical practice, primarily at Holy Cross Hospital, which he maintained into his early 70s.
The couple had five more children, who all survive him: David Deitz of Olympia, Wash., Leslie (Martin) Kaplan of Seattle and Sun Valley, Idaho, Emily Deitz of Pagosa Springs, Colo., Ellen (Ann Miles) Deitz of Phoenix, Ariz., Alison (Charlie) Charman of Missoula, Mont., and Richard (Marina) Deitz of London, England. He is also survived by eight grandchildren: Jacob “Koby” Deitz; Sydney Kaplan; Andrew, Henry and Sonia “Sunny” Charman; and Nathaniel, Ethan and Samuel Deitz. Contributions may be made to the ALS Foundation or the Anti-Defamation League. Arrangements entrusted to Torchinsky Hebrew Funeral Home.
