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Obituary

He helped integrate Ye Mystic Krewe in 1992

DR. FRED REDDY: 1951-2005: The respected surgeon and activist was considered by many to be a man worth emulating.

By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published July 29, 2005

TAMPA - Some of his friends called Dr. Fred Reddy "Big Man."

They weren't always talking about his size.

A former president of the Hillsborough County Medical Association, Dr. Reddy had a big heart, leading several trips to Haiti in the 1980s to operate on the poor.

He had a giant thirst for knowledge that began as a child, when he would entertain himself by reading the encyclopedia.

And he had a big vision, becoming one of the first four African-Americans to integrate Tampa's all-white Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla in 1992. At the time, he said to his wife, Maisie, "Perhaps I need to be the one to help the city move forward beyond this."

"He felt that it was his obligation to do this," she said Thursday. "Not that he was looking for anything from it, but it would be good to integrate the Krewe. And perhaps some good would come out of that."

Dr. Reddy died Wednesday at Tampa General Hospital of complications from a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 54. Mrs. Reddy said her husband had been selected to serve as foreman of a grand jury that met every Wednesday. During the grand jury's July 20 meeting, he passed out. At TGH, doctors found a blood vessel had burst and was bleeding into the "deep part" of his brain, Mrs. Reddy said.

Those who knew Dr. Reddy described him Thursday as a "gentle giant" and a man worth emulating.

"I think Fred exemplified what a true healer should be," said Tampa surgeon Dr. Sylvia Campbell, a friend and colleague. "He could not only heal the body, but he could heal the mind and the soul. He was someone I think all of us should try to emulate not only in medicine, but in every aspect of life."

Dr. Dennis Penzell, director of the Suncoast Community Health Center, said he met Dr. Reddy 13 years ago through the Hillsborough County Medical Association. Dr. Reddy served as president from 1994-95.

"Dr. Reddy was always a kindred spirit," Dr. Penzell said. "He was taking care of poor people before it was fashionable."

Dr. Penzell said he used Dr. Reddy as a "barometer of conscience," often turning to him for advice.

"Whenever I needed an opinion on humanity or what I should do, I would always call Fred and he would give me his quiet opinion or recommendation, and sometimes, if I was very, very lucky, he would give me his approval on something I was going to do," he said. "He was clearly one of the good guys. There aren't many. And now, we've lost one more."

A Tampa native, Dr. Reddy came from a military family. He grew up along 18th Avenue, bordering Ybor City and east Tampa. He spent two different four-year periods in France as a child, about 100 miles from Paris, when his father was stationed there. His mother taught school. Dr. Reddy was an only child, and both his parents died in the 1990s.

As a youth, he kept his teachers challenged.

"He was so smart, we really didn't know what to do with him. So, we sent him to (the University of South Florida)," said Altamese Hamilton, who taught him English at what was then Middleton Senior High School.

"The one thing I admired most about him was his humility and his ordinariness, even though he was an extraordinary person," Hamilton said. "He was ordinary as far as he was concerned. The rest of us just saw him as brilliant."

Dr. Reddy met his wife while at the University of Florida, where he graduated with a double major in chemistry and zoology in June 1972.

Dr. Reddy and his new wife moved to Nashville, where he attended Meharry Medical College, a private, historically black school. He chose Meharry to study under a surgeon he'd heard of most of his life, Dr. Matthew Walker.

The family moved back to Tampa in 1981, and Dr. Reddy practiced general and vascular surgery. He also served as founder and former chief of trauma service at St. Joseph's Hospital. The family attended St. James House of Prayer Episcopal Church.

Mrs. Reddy said she remembers the day her husband told her he was thinking about joining Ye Mystic Krewe, Tampa's most exclusive social club, whose members masquerade as pirates and put on the annual Gasparilla parade. Gasparilla was canceled in 1991 when the Krewe refused to open its ranks to minorities.

The next year, Reddy and three other black men accepted an invitation to join.

"I almost fell on the floor laughing," Mrs. Reddy said. "When I looked at him, he was dead serious."

Mrs. Reddy said inclusion into the Krewe has gained them many lifelong friends.

The couple has two children. Kenya Reddy, 29, is an associate with Carlton Fields law firm in Tampa, and son Frederick A. Reddy II is a tech manager at a local CompUSA.

Dr. Reddy suffered from diabetes, and an infection caused doctors to amputate his left leg in 1992. That same year, he also had a kidney transplant.

He was in and out of the hospital in recent years, his wife said, forced to retire in 1994 because of a suppressed immune system. Over the years, Dr. Reddy also mentored young people.

"He enjoyed life and he loved his family tremendously," Mrs. Reddy said. "That was his first priority in life. He loved his God and really tried to treat people as though they were all very, very special."

A ceremony and visitation will take place 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Wilson Funeral Home, 3000 N 29th St., Tampa. A memorial Mass is scheduled for Wednesday at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 13312 Cain Road and Gunn Highway, Tampa.

Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 29, 2005, 00:50:07]