Alfred Habeeb

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Alfred "Freddy" Habeeb, Sr (born c. 1911 in Bishmizzine, Lebanon - died August 22, 2009 in Birmingham) was a pioneering anesthesiologist.

Born in Lebanon, Habeeb came with his family to the United States in October 1920 and settled in Vicksburg, Mississippi where his father opened a grocery store and Alfred graduated from high school. Instructed by his father to go to college and become a doctor, Habeeb entered Mississippi College, graduating in 1934 and continuing in the study of medicine at the University of Mississippi and the University of Tennessee in Memphis. After graduating in 1938 he came to TCI Hospital in Fairfield for his internship and residency in surgery and anesthesia.

At first more interested in general surgery, he took over as TCI Hospital's chief of anesthesiology when Bryce Robinson was activated for service in World War II. With the support of Lloyd Noland, Habeeb continued to study the science of anesthesiology with colleagues at the Ocshner Clinic in New Orleans, the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and the Leahy Clinic in Boston. He remained with TCI's hospital until the early 1959s when he, Hiram Elliot and John Stough established HES, the state's first independent anesthesiology practice.

Habeeb has also served as Director of Anesthesia at St Vincent's Hospital and Children's Hospital and as Chief of Staff at St Vincent's. He has served as president of the Alabama Society of Anesthesiologists and of the Birmingham Surgical Society and was a member of the House of Delegates to the American Medical Association. He also taught at the Medical College of Alabama and UAB honored him by endowing the Alfred Habeeb Chair in Anesthesiology in 1992.

Habeeb died in 2009. He was survived by his wife, Carmen, three sons, Alfred, Jr, William and Philip, and four grandchildren. He is interred at Elmwood Cemetery.

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