William Green | Family physician, 89
William Green, 89, of Elkins Park and Longport, N.J., a family physician in Philadelphia for 59 years, died of complications of an infection Tuesday at Jeanes Hospital, where he had been on the staff for more than 50 years.
Dr. Green cared for three generations of patients at his office in Mayfair. He loved people and being a doctor, said daughter Ellen Sklaroff. He made house calls, she said, and once drove miles to deliver strawberry shortcake to a dying woman because he knew it was her favorite treat. After he retired five years ago, his patients stayed in contact, Sklaroff said, and they often took him to lunch.
In addition to maintaining his practice, Dr. Green was a longtime medical director at the Elkins Crest Nursing & Convalescent home in Elkins Park. He and his brother Stanley, also a physician, had previously owned the facility. He remained on the staff after it was sold.
Dr. Green graduated from Overbrook High School in 1936. While attending Temple University's School of Podiatry, he realized he wanted to become a physician and after graduating in 1940, he took pre-med courses at Villanova University.
His studies were interrupted during World War II, when he was drafted into the Army. He served as a medic and saw action in the South Pacific. Before being shipped overseas in 1943, he married Myra Sherr.
After his discharge in 1945, he earned a degree from Hahnemann Medical School on the GI bill in 1949 and then interned at Philadelphia General Hospital.
He loved golfing at the Atlantic City Country Club and sunsets in Longport, N.J., where he had a second home. He and his wife were Philadelphia Orchestra subscribers for 35 years.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Dr. Green is survived by another daughter, Andrea Feigenbaum; four grandchildren; and two great-grandsons.
The funeral was held yesterday at Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, with burial in King David Memorial Park, Bensalem.
The obituary for William Green is being reprinted to correct an erroneously supplied photograph published Thursday.