Leonard Joseph Alphonse Loewenthal

Dr Leonard Joseph Alphonse Loewenthal (3 June 1903 Liverpool, England -18 March 1983 Cape Town, South Africa) was the son of Dr Max Sally Loewenthal and Amanda Loewenthal nee Kehr. He studied medicine at Liverpool University and graduated with Honours in July 1925. From 1926 to 1929 he acted as clinical assistant to the Skin Department at the Royal Infirmary, and as assistant dermatologist at the Liverpool Hospital for Cancer and Skin Diseases. In 1930 he registered as a Colonial Office student, acquired the Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Health ( D.T.M.& H.) and was sent to Uganda. He studied tropical ulcers and described the skin follicular signs of vitamin A deficiency.

At the outbreak of World War Two he wished to join the armed forces, but the Colonial Office refused to release him. He released himself instead, went to South Africa, registered as a dermatologist with the Medical Council, and enlisted in the South African Medical Corps. He saw service in North Africa and Italy, rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and became area dermatologist in Tripolitania.

After the war, he opened a dermatology practice in Johannesburg and also worked in the Dermatology Department, Johannesburg General Hospital. He studied skin diseases in miners. He ended his career after 40 years, resigning in 1970 from all his dermatological appointments and retired to Spain to write books. He took up residence at San Pedro de Ribas, Barcelona where he became known as a writer, Alfonso Lowe, correspondent of the Royal Academy of Cordoba. Loewenthal's first wife, Kathleen Richardson, died in the 1940s and he married Stella Regina Koston nee Herzfeld (1916- 1981) in 1950 in Johannesburg. He had two sons and a daughter from his first marriage. Following the death of his wife Stella in 1981, his health declined. He returned to South Africa for the last months of his life and died in Cape Town.

Source:

1. They fought for South Africa. Flight Sgt. J. Sack, G.D. & Co., 1945.

2. https://history.rcplondon.ac.uk/inspiring-physicians/leonard-joseph-alphonse-loewenthal

3. South African Medical Journal 1983 volume 64 pages 1064-1067.