Beverly Graves Jr., retired M.D.

Dr. Beverly Graves Jr., 89, of Germantown, who cared for families in North Philadelphia for 50 years, died of complications of pneumonia Feb. 2 at Doylestown Hospital.

Dr. Graves grew up in North Philadelphia and graduated from Central High School. In his senior year, he won a statewide oratorical contest sponsored by the Elks and was a speaker at his commencement.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Graves earned a medical degree from Howard University and interned at Howard University Hospital. During World War II, he served in the States in the Army Reserve.

Dr. Graves opened a practice in North Philadelphia in 1947 and joined the staff of Mercy-Douglass Hospital. In 1956, he became the second African American to be elected to the staff of Pennsylvania Hospital. The first was a colleague, Dr. Daniel B. Taylor, medical director of Mercy-Douglass.

Dr. Graves retired in 1997. In 2003, he received the American Heart Association Edward S. Cooper Award for his commitment to his North Philadelphia neighborhood and his battle against health-care challenges facing the African American community.

Dr. Graves was a member of the Old Philadelphia Club; the Ashanti, an African American men's club; and the Philadelphia County Medical Society.

When he was in his 40s, Dr. Graves took up the violin. He studied at a summer music camp in Vermont, his daughter, Ruthanna, said, and often practiced in his medical office while waiting for his next appointment.

For more than 25 years he was a member of the Philadelphia Doctors' Chamber Orchestra and played in quartets with other musician friends, his daughter said.

He was a Renaissance man who loved art and music and the outdoors, she said. In his younger years, he bicycled along the river drives in Fairmount Park with his children and later in life took long walks in Valley Green.

Dr. Graves' wife of 60 years, Carolyn, died in 2003. In 2007, he married Louella Allen.

Besides his wife and daughter, Dr. Graves is survived by sons Beverly 3d, David, and Michael; 11 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. A son, Stephen, died in 1984.

A memorial service will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday at Germantown Friends Meeting, 47 W. Coulter St., Philadelphia.

Memorial donations may be made to the Scholarship Fund of the Associated Alumni of Central High School, Box 26580, Philadelphia 19141-6580.