Nathan Libby, a founding physician of North Shore University Hospital – now known as Northwell Health – and longtime Great Neck resident, died on Nov. 22. He was 104.
Libby, the son of poor Polish immigrants, became one of the many doctors that helped shape North Shore University Hospital, his son Daniel Libby said, and practiced medicine until he was 81, helping countless lives in the process.
Daniel Libby also described his father as a “big family man,” having moved from NYU Langone Medical Center to Great Neck so he could both practice medicine and be close with the family he had always wanted.
“He thought medicine was the greatest thing that ever happened,” Daniel Libby, a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical Center and attending physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital, said in an interview. “He really tried to get all five of his children to be doctors.”
Nathan Libby, the youngest of four children, was born on May 22, 1913, to Ethel and Solomon Libby, two Jewish immigrants from Poland.
He spent the first years of his life in Brooklyn, his son said, but when his mother discovered he was getting involved with older boys robbing shops and stores, they moved to south Bronx.
As a teenager, the family moved to Los Angeles, Calif., where Libby learned about his extended family, including a cousin who was a cardiologist in Beverly Hills, who told Libby “that a Jewish man could study medicine at Baylor University in Texas,” his son said.
Libby would also learn more about medicine by working in his uncle’s pharmacy, his son added.
Libby went on to study medicine and play football at Baylor University from 1930 to 1936.
“Dad was devoted to his mother and three older sisters, who nurtured him and supported him financially through college and medical school,” Daniel Libby said.
Upon graduating, Libby returned to New York City to intern at Harlem Hospital and complete his residency at Bronx Municipal Hospital. He then practiced at the Postgraduate Medical School – now known as NYU–Bellevue.
Libby would serve during World War II from 1941 to 1945, working as a surgeon for the U.S. Navy.
He saw action in North Africa, the Pacific Front, Australia and Europe, his son Daniel Libby said, and he and his brother Charles heard many stories about their father’s service.
During the war, Libby also met Shirley Rebecca Stats, in the lobby of the Warwick hotel through a mutual friend. They were supposed to go into a mixer for Jewish military officers and interested women, their son said, and they ultimately got married six weeks later.
The two would be married for 72 years and have five children together, with three becoming doctors, one being an artist and another working as a lawyer.
“I think he was probably most proud of his family – that he had a big family and they were successful,” Daniel Libby said.
Libby became one of the founding physicians of North Shore University Hospital, which opened in 1953, by promoting the hospital, helping set its policies, and teaching there for many years, his son said.
“He was an iconic figure of the 20th century in the sense that he grew up very poor,” Daniel Libby said, “and became very successful.”
Nathan Libby’s children Susan Siegel, Jean Cartwright, Daniel Libby, Charles Libby and James Libby, as well as their spouses, survive him. He was also the grandfather 16 children and great-grandfather of 17.
Shirley Libby, his wife, predeceased him by about a year.
A funeral service was held on Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, at Riverside-Nassau North Chapel in Great Neck. Libby is interred at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing.
