Dr. Howard James Maldeis

Dr. Howard James Maldeis , 1879-1949, Chief Medical Examiner for Maryland, was a post mortem physician for more than a quarter of a century and was instrumental in having the antiquated coroner system replaced by legal medical examiners. He headed the state of Maryland system from its establishment in 1939. In addition to heading the state system, Dr. Maldeis served as chief medical examiner for the city of Baltimore, with headquarters at the City Morgue, Eastern Ave. and East Falls Ave. For more than 30 years Dr. Maldeis aided in the investigation of virtually every homicide case brought to trial in the criminal court and performed thousands of autopsies and post- mortem examinations. He was also an associate professor in the University of Maryland clinical pathology department. He was born in Baltimore September 20, 1879, the son of the late Frederick William and Martha Elisabeth Lower Maldeis, and attended City College. In 1903 he received his degree in medicine from the University of Maryland Medical School. The following year he was appointed to teaching positions in the departments of bacteriology, pathology, histology, and clinical pathology in the medical school, and at the time of his death in 1949 was an associate professor of legal medicine. Until 1936 he was professor of histology and embryology and chief of science laboratories in the university's dental department. Dr. Maldeis was a member of the Maryland Medical and Chirurgical Faculty, a fellow of the American Medical Association, which he served as adviser to the council on education and hospitals, and the Southern Medical Association. In 1947 Dr. Maldeis was elected a founding fellow of the College of American Pathologists and had been certified by the American Board of Pathology. He served on the staffs of University, Franklin Square and St. Joseph's hospitals. The above information was taken from his newspaper obituary January 15, 1949, which appeared at the time of his death, in a Baltimore paper. His daughter still lives in Baltimore. Joan Hays