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Leon Peltz, M.D., a New York City physician, died at his North Haven home on January 8. He was 81 and suffered from diabetic and hypertensive heart disease.
During a life that encompassed flying around the world in military and civilian aircraft, studying medicine in Europe and practicing in Manhattan, Dr. Peltz lived much of the last 15 years in North Haven and was active in the community, serving on the Southampton Town Disability Advisory Committee.
Born August 4, 1934, to Julius and Anna Peltz, he grew up in Mount Vernon, an exceptional student who went to Cornell University at 16. After graduating, he served four years in the Air Force’s Military Air Transport Service, during which he met and married Barbara Loreto Peltz, who also attended Cornell. He was discharged with the rank of captain and with skills he would later put to use during medical school vacations, flying with cargo airlines that provided tuition money and a wealth of stories. One involved flying a planeload of 1,500 live, pregnant minks from a breeder in Norway to one in Japan over the polar ice cap in a propeller plane.
Always open to the world and new experiences, he started medical school at the Municipal University of Amsterdam, undaunted by the fact that he spoke no Dutch when he arrived. He learned quickly, helped by the universality of the language of science. After earning what was known as a candidate’s degree in Amsterdam, he earned his doctorate at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and trained in internal medicine at the former St. Vincent’s Hospital, and then in gastroenterology in Rochester, and overseas again in London.
While running his practice in Manhattan from 1968 to 2002, he also served at points as medical director for Coltec Industries, associate medical director for Time, Inc., and medical director of the home care department at St. Vincent’s, where he was an attending physician. He relished his solo practice as an opportunity to get to know the wide range of people who walked through its doors as patients, from executives and entertainers to an order of nuns. His patients knew him as a caring and generous doctor, one who took time to talk and treat them as individuals.
While living in New York, he and his wife were regulars and then homeowners in the Sag Harbor area. They made North Haven their home after his 2002 retirement.
Beyond his professional accomplishments, he was a jazz aficionado who could instantly name the players on a record he hadn’t heard in years, a thoughtful conversationalist, and a man who brimmed with kindness, knowledge, optimism and a gentle desire to see others thrive, survivors said.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Jennifer.
A memorial service is planned at a later date.
Memorial donations may be sent to Human Resources of the Hamptons, 168 Hill Street, Southampton, N.Y. 11968.
on Jan 14, 2016