His patients, colleagues and relatives share the pain of losing the compassionate and beloved family physician.
By ROBERT KING
Published March 22, 2004
SPRING HILL - Susan Heal came to Sunday's memorial service to honor the doctor who cared for her even when she couldn't always pay him.
Marilyn McArdle came to honor the doctor who saved her son's life.
And Dr. Rodwan Hiba came to honor the friend and colleague who died only hours after consulting with him about the care of a patient.
In all, more than 300 people turned out Sunday to remember Dr. Mohamed-Nagi Hassan Salam-Kadri, 49, who was killed last Monday night when his private plane crashed in northern Pasco County. He was flying home to his family in Orlando at the time.
Held in the ornate Palace Grande ballroom, the service memorialized the family physician with buttons featuring his picture, the singing of God Bless America and discussions of grief from a protestant minister, a Catholic priest and a Muslim imam.
A Muslim born in Egypt, Kadri was buried Wednesday in Tampa, as soon as his body was made available by the coroner, in accordance with Muslim traditions of quick burial.
Heal, who lives in Spring Hill, said she was one of Kadri's first patients when he moved his practice to Hernando County four years ago. At the time, his office was so quiet she worried it might go out of business.
Nevertheless, Heal said Kadri gave her the medical care she needed - and numerous free samples of expensive medicines - even when she lacked medical insurance and couldn't always pay.
By the time of his death, Kadri had a legion of patients.
"He was compassionate," said Heal, 49. "Extremely compassionate."
McArdle, who lives in Hudson, said her son appeared to be dying from cirrhosis of the liver until Kadri told him he could save his life - if he would stop drinking. That is just what happened, McArdle said.
"We feel he was the greatest doctor in the world," she said.
Dr. Hiba, a Hernando County gastroenterologist, spoke with Kadri four hours before the man's death. They had plans to talk the next morning about the follow-up care of a patient. The sudden loss left Hiba stunned.
"He left a lot of good memories with a lot of people," Hiba said. "The lesson from this is that we are all vulnerable."
Kadri's family - he left a wife and four children - made the trip from Orlando to attend the service. They were presented letters and resolutions from dignitaries and presents symbolic of Kadri himself, including a photo of the pyramids in Egypt and a photo of the holiest site in Islam, the Kaaba in Mecca.
Kadri had only recently performed the hajj - the ritual-filled journey to Mecca that is required to be performed by every Muslim who is able at least once in a lifetime.
Fawzi Soliman, a surgeon who had known Kadri since his arrival in Hernando County, said his friend described the experience as a great spiritual journey.
Soliman said Kadri could have waited until later in his life to make the hajj, but that he made a point of doing it in February.
"It was almost as if by design," Soliman said.
Adel Eldin, a Hernando County cardiologist and close friend of Kadri's who was also born in Egypt, said Kadri was "illuminated" by the experience.
Eldin, who was host for the service, repeatedly asked the assembly to repeat with him the words: "Dr. Kadri, we will always love you."
Greg Allen, Kadri's brother-in-law, spoke on the family's behalf, telling a story about Kadri's son Tarek, who turned 11 on Friday.
After learning of his father's death, Tarek wrote a poem:
Everyone has a father and so do I.
It doesn't make a difference if mine died.
Every day I look up in the heavenly sky wishing and hoping that someday he would peek out from the clouds to say hi.
Allen said those words seemed to have come to life on Tarek's birthday.
When Allen looked up in the sky in Orlando, he saw the word "Love" It had been written by a skywriter, who soon added the word "God" to the message.
Allen took the message as a reply to Tarek's poem. And he captured the message on his digital camera for all the family to enjoy.
"To know him was to love him," Allen said of Kadri. "And to love him was to miss him."
