D r. Ned Chalat of Grosse Pointe died Feb. 5, 2021, at the venera- ble age of 95. As a lifelong resident of the Detroit area, a practicing physician and active leader in many civic organizations, Dr. Chalat had a profound impact on the community and his family. His legacy includes more than 50 years as a practicing ear, nose and throat physician in Downtown Detroit, most of which was devoted to residents of the inner city. He was also a revered clinical professor of otolaryngology at Wayne State University School of Medicine and was credited for his pioneering research on transplanting eardrums. Dr. Chalat believed that a physician’s role extended beyond treating individu- al patients. He wrote, “It has long been my feeling that we as physi- cians have never sufficiently exercised our potential in facing society’s real difficulties. ” In that regard, Dr. Chalat’s com- mitment was unwavering. During the Detroit riots in 1968, he refused to abandon his patients and drove through police barriers to make rounds at Harper Hospital. During the AIDS cri- sis, he trained as a Red Cross instructor and berated doctors who refused to treat those patients. And, as a member of the editorial board for the Detroit Medical News, he wrote a series of essays promot- ing awareness about domestic violence, poverty and civil rights. He took every opportunity, in writing and in lectures, to prod members of his profession to help address those issues. Dr. Chalat inherited his empathy for the underserved from his father, who exemplified the grit and idealism of the immigrants who arrived in America at the turn of the century. Jacob Chalat, a young Jewish refugee, arrived in Detroit in 1910 after escaping from a Russian prison camp. Barely out of his teens, Jacob graduated from Central High School and then enrolled at the University of Michigan Medical School. He served as a physician in the United States Army, 1917-1918. Upon his return, Jacob turned down more lucra- tive job offers to work for the Detroit City Physicians Office, making house calls and tending to the poor. Eventually, as Jacob’s own health dete- riorated, his young son, Ned, accom- panied him on house calls. As recently as this year, Ned Chalat claimed that his exposure to a variety of epidemics during those house calls made him immune from the coronavirus pandemic. “I’m a doctor; I should be out there helping, ” he told his daughter in a recent phone call. ” Dr. Chalat followed his father into medicine, attending the University of Michigan for his B.S. in zoology, in 1945, and to the University of Michigan Medical School for his M.D. in 1948. He did his internship and residency in otolaryngology at Harper Hospital. In 1952, he took a fellowship at the esteemed Lempert Institute in New York City. In 1953, he served in the United States Air Force as an Air Force surgeon with the rank of captain (1953 -1955) at Parks Air Force Base in Livermore, Calif. Dr. Chalat’s staunch ideals were rec- ognized in every organization he joined, as evidenced by a raft of leadership positions over his lifetime. He served as president of the Wayne County Medical Society, chief of the Ear, Nose and Throat Departments at Harper and Sinai Hospitals, and he held leadership posi- tions at the Michigan Otolaryngological Society, the Michigan Chapter of American Medical Writers Association, the Detroit Academy of Medicine, the Southeast Michigan Red Cross AIDS Education Committee and the Children’s Center in Detroit. Dr. Chalat retired from his medical A Commitment To Serve OBITUARIES OF BLESSED MEMORY Dr. Ned Chalet JN 1/8 page Weekly Headlines Delivered to Your Inbox. thejewishnews.com/newsletter HEALTHCARE A1 CAREGIVER/COMPANION. 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