Percy Batipps Jr., 88, longtime family doctor in Chester

Percy Oliver "Pop" Batipps Jr., 88, of Media, a physician who cared for families in Chester for more than 40 years, died of an apparent heart attack Tuesday at home.

Dr. Batipps established a general practice in Chester in 1947. He made house calls and delivered babies, his son Michael said, and accepted pies, baked goods and vegetables instead of a fee when people couldn't pay him. His practice was interrupted for two years, from 1952 to 1954, while he served as a battalion surgeon in the Army in West Germany.

After retiring from his practice in 1992, Dr. Batipps worked part time in a public health clinic in Chester until 2001. He was a longtime member of the staff of Crozer-Chester Medical Center and served on several medical committees.

In 1991, a scholarship was established in his honor at Howard University College of Medicine. An award was also established in his name to be given annually to a senior Howard medical student embarking on a career in family medicine.

Dr. Batipps grew up in Media. He was always the "Pop" when he and his sister played house and the name stuck, his son Steven said. Dr. Batipps' father, Percy O. Batipps Sr., cofounded the Media branch of the NAACP in the 1920s in response to white vigilante attacks on black families.

After graduating from Media High School, Dr. Batipps earned a bachelor's degree from Lincoln University and a medical degree from Howard University. He interned at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis and completed a residency at the former Mercy-Douglas Hospital in Philadelphia.

Since 1943, Dr. Batipps had been married to Sylvia Raven Batipps, whom he met as a teenager at a dance in Chester. The couple's three sons, Michael, Gerald and Steven, are all physicians.

In recent years, Dr. Batipps developed a keen interest in computers, his sons said. He was a Web surfer and communicated with his grandchildren by e-mail.

He was a creative cook and passionate lifelong gardener and was working in his yard the day before he died, his sons said.

In addition to his wife and sons, Dr. Batipps is survived by three grandchildren; a sister; and a brother.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Trinity United African Methodist Episcopal Church, 418 N. Olive St., Media. Friends may call from 10 a.m. tomorrow at the church and from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Foster Funeral Home, 1100 Kerlin St., Chester.

Memorial donations may be made to the Percy O. Batipps Scholarship, Howard University College of Medicine, 520 W. St. Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20059.