Toni BakerDr. Charles Freeman Jr. (’49) passed away on July 1, just shy of his 90th birthday. Dr. Freeman practiced orthopaedic surgery in Augusta until his retirement in 1996. An early pioneer of total hip replacement surgery, he and the late Dr. John Lidelle Chandler studied the procedure under Sir John Charnley, FRS, in England, and together they performed the first total hip replacement surgery in Augusta. He is survived by his three sons, Charles Freeman III, Dr. Davidson L. Freeman (’83), and Albert N. “Skeete” Freeman, also of Augusta.
Dr. William E. “Billy” Mayher (’64), chairman emeritus of the MCG Foundation Board, passed away Jan. 31 in Athens. A retired neurosurgeon in Albany, Georgia, Dr. Mayher was an exemplary member of the Medical College of Georgia Foundation Board of Directors, having joined the board in 1994. He served as chairman from 1999 to 2000, and then again from 2008 to 2011, when he was given the title Chairman Emeritus. He is survived by his wife, JoAnne Mullis Mayher; his son, William R. Mayher (Marnie); his daughter, Anne M. Mayher; and daughter-in-law, Holli W. Mayher.
Dr. Richard Joseph Nijem (’72) died May 26. A native of Valdosta, Dr. Nijem was on faculty at the Medical College of Georgia from 1975-77 and began a private practice in cardiology and internal medicine in Valdosta in 1979 until his retirement in 2013. Survivors include his wife, Claudia, and his three children.
Dr. Titus David Payne (‘61) died on July 15. Born to missionary parents in the village of Mengka, Yunnan Province, China, he spent his first seven years speaking fluent Chinese. After medical school, he completed an internship in Greenville, South Carolina, and an ophthalmology residency at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, including six months at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He is survived by his second wife, Glenda; three siblings; four children; and eight grandchildren.
Faculty Farewells
Dr. Fairfield Goodale, former dean of the Medical College of Georgia, died on Dec. 27 at his home in Duxbury, Massachusetts. He was 92. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force, flying 50 combat missions in P-51 Mustang fighters over France and Germany during World War II. He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Mary Margaret, a brother, four children and their respective spouses, 15 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Dr. Friedrich “Fred” Hartmut Leibach, chair emeritus of biochemistry and molecular biology, died Dec. 2. A native of Kitzingen (Bavaria), Germany, Dr. Liebach lived through World War II and was a translator for the U.S. Occupational Forces until 1955. Dr. Leibach was a distinguished professor in the Medical College of Georgia Schools of Medicine, Dentistry and Graduate Studies and was mentor and/or major professor to 37 master’s, doctoral and postdoctoral candidates practicing across the globe. Survivors include wife Elizabeth, a brother, four children, seven grandchildren and respective spouses.
