Free Press Staff

Dr. Fredrick Weissman, 70, the chief of plastic surgery at Sinai Hospital until his retirement in 1985, died of lung cancer Thursday at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.

Known to friends as Freddy or Doc, Dr. Weissman had a gregarious personality and loved to travel worldwide with his wife and children, befriending people as diverse as cruise ship workers and Russian jazz musicians. When he returned from his trips, he would correspond with these new acquaintances and sometimes formed lifelong friendships.

He enjoyed working around his home and two acres in Franklin, where he grew more than 100 varieties of apples, peaches and cherries.

"Every inch of his family home, which he tended devotedly for 31 years, bore the mark of his care and personality and was full of unique and whimsical touches: hidden forts and tree houses for the grandchildren tire swings with views of rolling hills and a Las Vegas-style poker video game in the barn," according to a tribute written by his family.

"He was a real jokester. When he was in the hospital, he would introduce each one of us to people as his favorite daughter. Then people would realize later that there were three of us," said his daughter, Patricia.

Dr. Weissman was born in 1924 in Detroit. He served in the Naval Air Corps as a squadron navigational officer from 1943-46. Later. he served in the Navy Reserve and attained the rank of lieutenant commander before retiring in 1967.

He studied and practiced medicine at many institutions, including Wayne State University, the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic. In 1966, he was appointed chief of plastic surgery at Sinai.

Dr. Weissman also is survived by his wife, Evelyn; daughters Becca and Margaret, and five grandchildren.

Services were held Friday.

Obituary for Fredrick Weissman, Detroit Free Press, MI, 10Oct1994

Fredrick Weissman (1924)