Some saw a career in the medical field for Dr. Gordon Duggar when he was just a boy, before he even knew he was interested in it himself. At the time, he was working at a local pharmacy in Cedartown, where the pharmacist he worked for believed his intelligence would take him far in the pharmaceutical field.
Helping to get him started, the pharmacist paid Duggar’s bus fare to the local YMCA where he went to live so he could attend college. That same pharmacist also helped him get into Mercer University, from which Duggar graduated with a pharmacy degree in 1952, said his daughter, Patti Lindsley of Johns Creek.
“The pharmacist he worked for knew he had a future,” she said. “And he just excelled all the way.”
Not long after graduating, Duggar opened his own private pharmacy in Dunaire, which he owned and operated for a little over eight years. While working as a pharmacist, he soon realized there was a great need for improvement in the field of podiatry, which quickly became his passion.
As his admiration for podiatry grew, Duggar made the decision to sell his pharmacy in order to attend the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine, from which he graduated with a degree in 1965. Not long after, he became a podiatric physician and surgeon, his daughter said.
“He saw a need for the specialty care of the foot and leg,” she said. “Then he went on and became a surgeon. He just developed an interest that became a love.”
Dr. Gordon Eugene Duggar, of Flowery Branch, died Sunday from complications of a previously occurring stroke at his current home in Lawrenceville. He was 83.
His funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday at the Chapel of Memorial Park South Funeral Home, which is handling arrangements. Interment will immediately follow at the Memorial Park South Cemetery.
After graduating from podiatry school, Duggar once again opened his own practice, this time for podiatry in Decatur, which he owned until he was asked to join the staff at the Atlanta Veterans Administration Hospital in 1986. While there, Duggar earned awards for his dedication such as the Secretary for Veterans Affairs “Hands and Hearts Award,” as well as serving as the chief of several programs and boards.
In the early 1990s, Duggar created the VAMC Podiatric Residency Program, a 36-month program aimed at educating and training well-rounded podiatric physicians, said longtime friend and VA Hospital podiatric surgeon, Dr. A. Louis Jimenez.
“As a podiatrist, he’d always been interested in education,” he said. “He soon realized there was a lack of residency training at the higher levels, and he wanted to improve education.”
Throughout his career in podiatry, Duggar had been dedicated to the improvement of the field, often attempting to introduce bills in the legislature that would help to eliminate “insurance and education issues for podiatric surgeons,” Jimenez said.
Duggar officially retired from the VA Hospital in 2006.
“He was highly respected in the hospital,” Jimenez said. “He was a terribly big visionary, and he’s left a great legacy for other Podiatrists.”
In addition to his daughter, Duggar is survived by his wife of 64 years, Vera Peace Duggar of Flowery Branch; two more daughters, Kathy Ray of Atlanta, and Amie Black of Braselton; sisters, Mary Anne Blackley, Barbara Cagle and Rebecca Campbell, all of Cedartown; six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren
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