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Dr. Cave, rights activist is dead at 61

[[image - DR. HERBERT G. CAVE]]

Dr. Herbert G. Cave, 61, famous both as "The Dean of Black Anesthesiologists" in New York and as a courageous and inveterate fighter for civil and human rights, died Tuesday at 12:20 a.m. at Harlem Hospital Medical Center. He had been gravely ill at the hospital since January 3rd.

Dr. Cave spent his entire professional career at Harlem Hospital Medical Center after graduating from Howard University College of Medicine in 1947, except for a period from 1952 to 1954 in the United States Army Medical Corps during which interval most of his service was in South Korea.

He became Director of the Department of Anesthesiology at Harlem Hospital Medical Center 1961 and was an Associate Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology at Columbia University.

He was one of the members of the operating team that performed the delicate life-saving surgery on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he sustained a stab wound of the chest in Blumstein's Department Store in Harlem on Sept. 20, 1958.

Dr. Cave was president of the Harlem Hospital Medical Center Medical Board in 1969 when the building which is now known as the "Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Pavilion" was ready for opening after years of delay because of construction problems. The new building was of much greater bed capacity then the old one that it was to replace. The hospital was told that it would have to make do without any increase in budget. In response, the Medical Board compiled a set of demands and presented them to the Department of Hospitals through then Commissioner Joseph Terenzio. All of the demands were rejected.

The Medical Board, headed by Dr. Cave and vice-chaired by Dr. Theodore Stent, taking the position that it was not going to perpetrate a fraud on the Harlem community by having them assuming that they would be getting reasonably quality health care, rallied the Harlem community including its churches and the Amsterdam News.

Seldom has Harlem been as united in common cause. Street rallies and other forms of protest resulted ultimately in Commissioner Terenzio and Mayor John Lindsay acceding to all demands. The hospital was opened with at least more nearly adequate staff, supplies and equipment.

Dr. Cave was also a Diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology, a Fellow of the American College of Anesthesiology and a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and has held a variety of positions in the local, regional and national components of the National Medical Association. He was the author of many published scientific articles and a much sought after medical lecturer throughout the country, at one time holding visiting professorships at both the Universities of Virginia and Newfoundland.

Included among his many civil rights activities were providing a medical presence in Mississippi in 1964 with its attendant danger and again in the historic 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

In Mount Vernon where he lived, Dr. Cave served on the Mount Vernon Board of Ethics. He also, at varying times, had been Commissioner of Mount Vernon Planning Board, member of Selective Service Board No. 10, member of the Board of Directors of Mount Vernon Community Action Group, member of Mount Vernon Narcotics Guidance Council.

He is survived by his wife, Frances; a son, Herbert Jr. and a daughter, Laverne. Also surviving is a sister, Mrs. Olga Wiles and two brothers, Dr. Vernal Cave and Lawrence Cave.

The body will be on view Saturday, March 3rd from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., at Harlem Hospital Center on the second floor of the Martin Luther King Pavilion at 135th Street and Lenox Avenue.

On Sunday, March 4th, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. the viewing will be at the Prim Funeral Home, 102 Mt. Vernon Ave. in Mt. Vernon. The wake will follow at 7 p.m. at the funeral home.

On Monday, March 5 the body will repose at the Riverside Church at 122nd Street and Riverside Drive from 8 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

Funeral service will be held at the church beginning at 12 noon. Interment will be at Evergreen Cemetery in Brooklyn.

[[images - 6 pictures from the funeral]]

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