General practitioner of medicine, teacher and board member of the United Black Association for Development Educational Foundation (UEF), Dr. Leroy Taegar, 74, died Sunday night, October 2, at Belize City’s Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH), where he was admitted for treatment after suffering two massive strokes at his Coral Grove home early Saturday morning.
Dr. Taegar studied medicine in Jamaica and Trinidad at the University of the West Indies (UWI) after obtaining his Bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Marquette University in Wisconsin (U.S.), and practiced medicine at the old Belize City Hospital on Eve Street before entering private practice in Belize City. Along with his wife, Andrea, also a medical doctor, he opened a clinic on Albert and King Streets, moved to Regent Street, then to Chapel Lane, Amara Avenue, and eventually back to Regent Street before retiring. A few years ago, he was a member of the Commission of Inquiry into a scandal concerning three KHMH patients given blood that contained the HIV virus.
A graduate of St. John’s College (High School), Dr. Taegar later taught there and at its Extension Department before going to the United States to begin his studies in the late 1950’s. Incidentally, at S.J.C. Leroy Taegar was a star basketball player.
He was a member of the UEF’s parent organization, United Black Association for Development (UBAD), and later became the first youth organizer for the People’s United Party (PUP) in the mid-1970’s, a forerunner of their Belize Youth Movement (BYM) today. Dr. Taegar, along with luminaries like Said Musa, Lois Young, Evan X Hyde, Signa Yorke and others ran unsuccessfully for the Belize City Council in 1977, in a slate known as “The Dynamic Nine.” Before his health became compromised, Dr. Taegar was also one of the star panelists on the Evan X-chaired Kremandala Show on KREM Radio.
Dr. Taegar is survived by his wife Andrea, their sons Sydney (a physicist) and Sean, daughters Romy Saunders and Tracey Taegar Panton (former Director of Tourism), nine grandchildren, and numerous other relatives.
According to Tracey, Dr. Taegar was first and foremost a teacher, and taught those who knew him about the value of the human being and the pursuit of knowledge as the best path in life. She added that Dr. Taegar believed there is no death, simply “a transition to a new state of being.”
In honor of that belief, his body will be cremated and there will be no formal funeral services. A memorial gathering in his honor will be held at the House of Culture in Belize City this Friday, October 7, at 1:30 p.m.
This newspaper extends deepest condolences to the family of Dr. Leroy Taegar and all who knew him. May he rest in peace.