Stanley A. Beloff, 86, a podiatrist

Dr. Stanley A. Beloff's world turned on a dual axis: family and feet.

Starting in the 1950s, he maintained a podiatry practice in his house on Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia, allowing him to begin work at 8 a.m. and still be at it at 8 p.m. without missing a meal with his wife and children. Little Beloffs in PJs ran through the waiting room.

His second office in Ventnor, N.J., opened in 1969, likewise doubled as a domicile. Until the mid-1980s, he shuttled between Shore and city. He eschewed vacations but was a fixture, often still in scrubs, at his sons' Babe Ruth League ball games.

Dr. Beloff died at age 86 on Saturday, March 16, at the Cottage at Spring Hills Cherry Hill, an assisted living center where he spent the last two months.

Throughout his life, when asked how he was, Dr. Beloff would reply, "I'm wonderful!" Shortly before his death, having suffered a stroke, he assured he was still "wonderful!"

His son, Sam, described him as "a pit bull" of a man who "was always positive," adding, "They're tough, those guys from South Philadelphia."

When confronted with young people on the fence about postgraduate education, Dr. Beloff offered himself as an example of its propellant power.

His father, David Bilofsky, was a plumber; his mother, Reba Goldstein Bilofsky, a homemaker. No sooner did he graduate from South Philadelphia High School for Boys in 1948 than he joined the Navy.

He also changed his name to Beloff.

"He was concerned about the level of bigotry" he might encounter, said his son, Josh. "As Bilofsky, he would have been tagged as Jewish. He wanted to blend in."

Upon discharge, Dr. Beloff was a quartermaster third class. On the G.I. Bill, he went to mortuary school, though it would be only a footnote to his education.

He enrolled in the Temple University School of Chiropody, became president and valedictorian of his class, and in 1955 received his doctor of surgical chiropody degree.

He immediately went into practice in the Bella Vista/Southwark neighborhood - "the classic old-school doctor" serving a community that was "in his blood," said son Sam.

Dr. Beloff also gave South Philly its first volunteer ambulance service: the South Philadelphia Ambulance Association, which he founded and funded for many years.

At the since-closed Broad Street Hospital, Dr. Beloff was director of podiatric residency and chief of podiatric medicine. He taught at the Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine as well.

When his wife, Ruth, asked him for a swimming pool, he gave her the Atlantic Ocean. It made for an arduous commuting schedule between his Ventnor and South Philadelphia offices, often with one of his sons at the wheel. "We used to blow mileage on cars like there was no tomorrow," Sam said.

It was not until the mid-1980s that Dr. Beloff closed his Snyder Avenue practice. "He worked on generations of families," Sam said. "He felt responsibility to the community."

He did find time to be a judge for many years of the Miss Columbus Day pageant in Atlantic City. Later in life, he also started painting - watercolors of birds, boats, whatever struck his fancy.

As a child, he found that books empowered him. He remained an insatiable reader to the end.

Besides his sons, he is survived by daughters, Donna Wood and Gail; seven grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; stepdaughter Carol Schreibman; stepsons Alan Braverman and Bennett Braverman. He was preceded in death by wives Ruth Beloff and Mollie Braverman, and sons Bruce, Marc, and Adam.

Services were held Tuesday, March 19, at Beth El Synagogue, Margate. Donations may be made to the charity of one's choice.

Condolences may be sent to the family via e-mail at plattmemorial@comcast.net.