Walter F. Lever (1909–1992)

Dr. Walter F. Lever, former Professor and Chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the New England Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine from 1961 until his retirement in 1976, died in Germany on Dec. 13,1992. He was a pioneer in the fieldofdermatopathology and made seminal contributions to the understanding and treatment of bullous diseases. Dr. Lever was born in Erfurt, Germany, on Dec. 13, 1909. He studied in Heidelberg and obtained his MD degree in 1934 from Leipzig. His father, Alexander Lever, was head of dermatology at the City Hospital of Erfurt. It was not surprising that Walter and his twin brother Kurt both became dermatologists. From the beginning, Dr. Lever was interested in an academic career. He and his father decided that dermatopathology was a worthy subject for academic study, so he set off for the United States in 1936 with Alexander's going-away present of two treasured volumes of Gans' Histologie der H autkrankheiten. Lever arrived at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School for his dermatology residency in 1936, and stayed for more than 20 years, developing his skills in dermatopathology and pursuing research on pemphigus vulgaris. In 1959he became chief of dermatology at the New England Medical Center. Two years later he was appointed Professor and Chairman of the Dermatology Department at Tufts University School of Medicine and chief of the dermatology service of the Boston City Hospital. With the help of National Institutes of Health training grants and research grants, Lever built strong skin research groups and continued his prolific writing. In 1971 Dr. Gundula Schaumburg joined Lever's department and began to participate in his research and writing efforts. Soon she entered