Robert Slaughter
Robert Lewis Slaughter (born August 29, 1937 in Haleyville, Winston County; died September 23, 2010) was a gastroenterologist, a U.S. Air Force veteran, and a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army Reserve.
Slaughter graduated from Haleyville High School in 1954 and joined the U.S. Air Force in 1955. He graduated from Florence State College (now the University of North Alabama) in 1958 and enrolled at the University of Alabama School of Medicine in 1959. While in school he was assigned to the Alabama Army National Guard as a laboratory technician. After earning his M.D. he was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve and assigned to active duty at Fitzsimons General Hospital in Denver, Colorado. He earned his regular army commission in 1963 and continued his post-graduate training at Fitzsimons and at Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington D.C.
Slaughter went on to complete a fellowship in tropical medicine and parasitology at Louisiana State University in 1969, a specialized course at the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine in 1975 and a program in health systems management at the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration in 1978.
Slaughter returned to Birmingham in 1971 to accept the position of Chief of Staff at Birmingham VA Medical Center, where he remained until his retirement in 1993. He also served as a a full professor of medicine and associate dean for veterans affairs for the University of Alabama School of Medicine. He was recognized as a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Gastroenterological Association. The Army Reserves promoted him to the rank of Brigadier General on December 16, 1985.
Slaughter and his wife, Betty, had five children, Robert Jr, Roddy, Greg, Kristy and Cynthia. After retirement, Slaughter built a lavish residence in Indian Springs Village to house the family. They were members of Hunter Street Baptist Church.
Slaughter died in 2010 and was survived by his mother, his wife, four of his children, and seven grandchildren.
References
- "Brig. Gen. Lewis Robert Slaughter" obituary (September 24, 2010) Alabaster Reporter