Robert Edmund McLeod's Obituary
Robert E. McLeod, Catholic deacon, former department head of radiology for St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital in Pontiac, Michigan, and devoted husband and father of four, died peacefully Tuesday, March 10, while hospitalized for complications due to kidney cancer. He was 81 years old.
Robert’s career in radiology began in 1958 when he took courses to become certified as an X-ray technologist through Mercy Hospital School of Radiologic Technology in Port Huron, Michigan. He began working in hospitals, first as an orderly and then as at an X-ray technician for Mercy Hospital in Port Huron and, later, River District Hospital in Saint Clair where he took on an administrative role. In 1999, He retired as department head of radiology for St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Pontiac where he’d worked since 1972. His work included presiding over multimillion dollar budgets, making purchasing decisions for medical imaging equipment, managing a staff and attending to other administrative responsibilities. It was a career in radiology that spanned 42 years and included roles as treasurer and, later, president of the American Healthcare Radiology Administrators Midwest Region.
Robert Edmund McLeod was born in Saint Clair, Michigan on April 7, 1938 to Emily Penn McLeod and Edmund Scanlon McLeod. His mother delivered him, her third child, on the kitchen table. When the doctor asked if she intended to have any more children, she responded, “No, this one is the caboose.”
As a child, Robert suffered from and survived major illness. At the age of 10, he contracted spinal meningitis, which rendered him confined to his childhood home for several days. While appearing to be in a coma, but still able to hear the goings on about him, he overheard a doctor tell his mother he likely wouldn’t survive beyond his teens. Then, at the age of 14, he contracted rheumatic fever, which damaged his heart and kept him confined to his home for seven months. His interest in medicine stemmed, in part, from this experience. In addition to his work in hospitals, Robert saved the lives of three accident victims during his lifetime, being the first to come upon accident scenes while he was commuting to or from work.
As Robert was working in radiology and raising four children, he pursued his diaconate, attending Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit from 1971-73, resulting in his ordination as a permanent diaconate February 1973. His ordination made headlines as one of the first in the state, as it was a new role for married Roman Catholic men made possible under church reformation, Vatican II. As a deacon, Robert became a pillar in the community, especially in serving his home parish, St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Saint Clair, Michigan, where, from 1981 to 2018, he assisted with mass, conducted weddings, presided over funerals, took communion to the sick and, with his wife, Joyce, taught pre-marriage classes. Prior to serving St. Mary’s parish, he served as deacon for Mercy Hospital of Port Huron.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Sienna Heights College in 1982 and pursued graduate courses in hospital administration through Central Michigan University. He also took courses toward a Masters of Divinity degree through Sacred Heart Seminary College.
He met his late wife, Joyce Ann Radatz [McLeod], of Port Huron, Michigan, in 1962. They were introduced through mutual friends, and she quickly took a shining to the distinguished looking young man in a London Fog coat, smoking a pipe. The two married six months later, June 2, 1962, and lived in Port Huron until moving to St. Clair in 1967. With the exception of the five years in Port Huron, Robert resided in St. Clair his entire life.
While a serious and spiritual person, Robert is especially remembered for his good humor, including once making a point of cleaning his shotgun in the living room when his daughter brought home a new boyfriend to meet her parents. Also, when one of his sons pierced an ear, Robert glued a BB to his own earlobe to see if he could evoke a look of horror on his son’s face.
Robert is survived by his four children and six grandchildren. His children include: daughter Maria McLeod and her husband Stephen Howie of Bellingham, Washington; son Joseph McLeod of St. Clair, Michigan; son Robert J. McLeod of Ypsilanti, Michigan, and his children, Cecilia and Joseph; son Patrick and Erica Dierkens McLeod of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and their children, Isabella, Kendra, Maysie and Edmund.
Robert is preceded in death by his wife of 52 years, Joyce, and siblings, John (Jack) McLeod and Helen McLeod, both of St. Clair, Michigan.
Visitation will be held Sunday, March 15, from 3 - 9 p.m.; Monday, March 16, from 2- 4 p.m. and 6 - 9 p.m. at Young Colonial Funeral Home in St. Clair. A funeral mass will be held on Tuesday, March 17, at 11:30 a.m. at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in St. Clair. Charitable donations may be made in Robert’s name to St. Jude Children’s Hospital. To leave a message of comfort visit www.youngcolonial.com
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