Leonard Bachman, former Pa. secretary of health, retired U.S. Public Health Service officer, and former chief of anesthesiology at CHOP, has died at 99

Leonard Bachman, 99, formerly of Philadelphia, longtime doctor, former Pennsylvania secretary of health, retired U.S. Public Health Service officer, former chief of anesthesiology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, professor of pediatric anesthesia, volunteer, and veteran, died Friday, May 24, of cancer at his home in Chevy Chase, Md.

Dr. Bachman was an expert in anesthesiology, public health, public service, and politics. He lived for stretches in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Washington, and his impact was felt in medicine and public service wherever he was. “He believed that access to quality health care was a human right,” his family said in a tribute, “and he advocated for the policies that would make that a reality for every individual.”

He was appointed to the U.S. Public Health Service in 1979, named rear admiral in the commissioned corps, and placed in charge of PHS hospitals, clinics, medical disaster response teams, environmental and drug addiction initiatives, and other national health programs. He retired in 1994 and later served for more than a decade as a medical consultant to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Dr. Bachman was Pennsylvania’s energetic and engaging secretary of health for Gov. Milton Shapp from 1975 to 1979, and he confronted Legionnaires’ disease, Hurricane Agnes, swine flu, and dozens of health policy controversies. He also created state-funded health care centers and championed access to health services and the public’s role in planning and procedures.

The New York Times profiled Dr. Bachman in 1976, and Shapp said: “The one thing Len has done that I’m most proud of is setting up health delivery services in parts of the state that don’t have doctors, putting up these community medical centers to provide medical services. He’s a terrific guy.”

Direct and often critical in his official comments, Dr. Bachman sometimes clashed with other doctors and politicians. He proposed a patients’ bill of rights and supported state taxes on cigarettes and the disclosure of physician salaries.

He was quoted frequently in The Inquirer and Daily News in the 1970s, and, as Shapp’s director of health services in 1973, said in an opinion piece for The Inquirer: “The nursing home crisis did not happen overnight. It is the result of decades of neglect on the part of society and its governments, including the Commonwealth.”

He was recruited from Johns Hopkins University medical school in Baltimore in 1955 to be CHOP’s chief of anesthesiology and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school. Before leaving for Harrisburg in 1972 to serve under Shapp, he helped develop a pediatric intensive care unit at CHOP and created and refined groundbreaking tools and technology for anesthesiologists.

He also taught at George Washington University’s school of medicine and elsewhere, and earned three honorary college degrees. He served as president of the Pennsylvania Society of Anesthesiologists and was active with a dozen other professional organizations.

He won the 1990 Abigail Geisinger Medal from the Geisinger Health Foundation, a 2004 Robert M. Smith Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics, a 2018 Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, and other tributes.

His uncle and father were involved in politics, and Dr. Bachman ran unsuccessfully in 1964 to represent a Delaware County district in the U.S. House of Representatives. Later, he was chairman of the Democratic Committee of Delaware County and president of the Central Philadelphia Reform Democrats.

“In everything he did, he was always enthusiastic,” said his son Joseph.

Born May 20, 1925, in Baltimore, Leonard Bachman was an Eagle Scout and star wrestler in high school and college. He also liked to swim, hike and bike, and boat and fish.

He joined the Navy’s college training program for officers and earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster during World War II, and went on to earn his medical degree at the University of Maryland in 1949. He served in Navy hospitals in Maryland and Massachusetts, and medical centers in Boston before moving to Baltimore and Philadelphia.

He met Sarah Jaffe in Baltimore, and they married in 1950, and had daughter Emily and sons Joseph, Daniel, and Jacob. They lived in Baltimore, Boston, Bryn Mawr, Philadelphia, and Washington before he moved to Maryland. His wife died earlier.

Dr. Bachman and his wife enjoyed time with family and friends at their cabin, Camp Bachman, in western Maine. He served on boards and committees for his synagogues in Philadelphia and Washington, and became a go-to medical adviser for friends and neighbors in Maryland during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was a member of a literary society in college and quoted Shakespeare often. He told engaging stories about visits to research ships, was a board member of the Society Hill Civic Association, and described himself as a “realistic visionary.”

He was, his daughter said, “an exceptionally curious man, with wide-ranging interests and knowledge, with a willingness to learn from, and teach, anyone.”

In addition to his children, Dr. Bachman is survived by seven grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and other relatives.

Services were held May 26.

Donations in his name may be made to Rangeley Health and Wellness, Box 722, Rangeley, Maine 04970; and Tifereth Israel Congregation, 7701 16th St., NW Washington, D.C. 20012.