Memorial service planned for former UF department of medicine chairman Leighton Cluff

A memorial service for immunologist and infectious disease expert Leighton Eggertsen Cluff, M.D., a former chairman of the University of Florida College of Medicine’s department of medicine, is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, May 8, at the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church at 100 N.E. 1st St.

The service is open to all friends, as UF faculty, staff and students.

Cluff died April 14 in Gainesville. He was 80. He was a professor emeritus with the internal medicine division of the UF department of medicine.

Besides serving as chairman of the department of medicine from 1966 to 1976, Cluff enjoyed a remarkably varied career. Well-known for his work internationally on the treatment of cholera and other public-health problems, his research interests also included epidemiology of drug utilization and adverse drug reactions, bioterrorism issues, health policy, medical humanism, gerontology, long-term health care and hospice and palliative care.

He published more than 200 papers and 10 books, served on the editorial boards of a dozen medical journals and earned numerous honors including membership in Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society.

Inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 1978, Cluff served as an advisor to the National Institutes of Health, World Health Organization, American Medical Association and various branches of the U.S. government.

Cluff earned his medical degree in 1949 from George Washington University, then completed further training at The Johns Hopkins University and Duke University, later taking a faculty appointment at Johns Hopkins. He arrived at UF in 1966 to serve as professor and chairman of the department of medicine, departing in 1976 to take an executive position with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a private philanthropic organization.

Upon retiring from the foundation in 1990, Cluff returned to Gainesville, becoming an emeritus member of the UF department of medicine and working until 1995 at the Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He also began serving in numerous leadership positions with organizations such as the University of Florida Foundation, UF’s Health Science Center, the board of directors of UF’s Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts and the North Florida Hospice Association.

Current department of medicine Chairman Edward R. Block, M.D., a UF distinguished professor of medicine, first met Cluff at The Johns Hopkins University in the 1960s and knew him as a teacher, department chairman and mentor.

“Lee Cluff was a scholar, a gentleman, a leader who inspired by word and example, a humanist and a role model for those in academic medicine,” Block said. “He was an excellent clinician, scientist, educator and administrator, making him a rare ‘quadruple threat.’ He made great contributions to the University of Florida over nearly five decades, and he will be sorely missed.”

Cluff is survived by his wife, Beth A. Cluff of Gainesville; two daughters, Claudia and Patricia, and three grandchildren.