George S Lassiter-A Wonderful Life.mov

Dr. George Sherman Lassiter, MD was born in Madison, NJ on July 4, 1934 to James Kenneth Lassiter and Lavinia Potts Lassiter. He had one brother, Jimmy Lassiter, DDS, who predeceased him. George died peacefully on May 3, 2011 after a long illness. A long-time resident of Madison, he was proud to have graduated with Madison High School's Class of 1952. At MHS, he was class president for all four years, was Captain of the basketball team and was an All-Suburban Conference Performer.

After high school, he attended Hobart College, where he was also class president for all four years, a member of the Druid Society (the highest student honor bestowed upon five seniors). He played both varsity basketball and lacrosse and was captain of the lacrosse team his senior year. A two-time honorable mention All-American selection in 1955 and 1956, George was Hobart's first African American selected to play in the Annual Senior All Star Lacrosse Game. He was one of the recipients of the college's Bicentennial Award for Excellence. In 1998, he was inducted into Hobart's Athletic Hall of Fame. He delivered the 150th Anniversary address honoring Elizabeth Blackwell of the Geneva Medical College (Hobart) as the first female physician of North America.

Upon graduating from Hobart, he went on to attend Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia, PA from where he graduated in 1961. There he met his future wife, Madhu Patel of Bombay, India. He subsequently did his residency at the VA Medical Hospital in East Orange, NJ and Mt. Sinai Hospital in NY.

In 1966, with three small children, he was drafted out of practice during the Vietnam War and served as Assistant Chief of Medicine at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Long Beach, CA. After his tenure in the Navy as Lieutenant Commander, he returned to New Jersey where he practiced medicine for 36 years in Morristown and was affiliated with Morristown Memorial Hospital. He was Chief of Medicine at All Souls Hospital and served on its Board of Trustees.

Dr. Lassiter was a member of the Morris County NAACP, the Urban League and the Morris County Fair Housing Council, for which he once brought the Duke Ellington and Count Basie Orchestras to Morristown for a fundraising event. He was one of the first laypersons appointed to the Legal Ethics Committee in the state of New Jersey by the state Supreme Court of Justice. He also served as Senior Vice President of the 200 Club of Morris County.

When asked what his legacy would be, he stated what had been passed on to him by his father: "the importance of education, don't doubt yourself, stay oriented, succeed, be proud, look people in the eye, be straightforward and forth right, don't accept second class status and walk tall." He will be remembered as a compassionate physician, skilled athlete, gifted artist, voracious reader, loyal friend, loving family member, and someone who had an enormous appetite for life. Those who knew and loved him will never forget his magnanimous being and his coined phrase of "hi hi and toot toot"!

Dr. Lassiter is survived by the mother of his children, Madhu Lassiter; his children, Naina Lassiter Williams and her husband Eric of McLean, VA; Nayan Lassiter and his wife Cecilia of West Orange, NJ; and Milan Lassiter and his wife Cyndy of Glen Allen, VA and seven grandchildren: Eric IV, Kyra, Phoenix, Skylar, Tate, Cole and Dane.

Rest in Peace Dad.
July 4, 1934-May 3, 2011.

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