One night in 1971, at her home in Kampala, Uganda, Dolly de Souza got a frightening phone call from an anonymous caller who said her husband, a doctor, was in danger of being fed to the crocodiles.
Dr. Leo de Souza, born in Tanzania and educated in India and England, was a surgeon at a public hospital in Uganda's capital. De Souza was apolitical, but had treated members of the former president's family and tribe, which was being purged by the murderous Idi Amin.
De Souza fled with his family to Minnesota. They were relocated by the late Lawrence Brown, a Golden Valley businessman who befriended the De Souzas while working in Uganda, and doctors De Souza had met at a medical conference in Minneapolis. De Souza was grateful and determined to be successful in America.
De Souza died of congestive heart failure on March 22. He was 89.
"My dad stressed education and bettering ourselves," said Louella Anderson, a daughter of Leo and Dolly de Souza. "And he pushed himself to do his [three-year] re-certification in orthopedics and pass his medical boards."
De Souza was born in 1926 to a Goa, India-born corporate accountant in Tanzania.
He joined the surgical staff at Hennepin County Medical Center and was an associate professor at the University of Minnesota. After rheumatoid arthritis robbed him of his surgical ability years ago, he continued to teach, always emphasizing the importance of listening to patients.
"Instead of retiring after his hands got to the point where he couldn't do surgery, he just taught resident surgeons," said his daughter. "The residents came to his room when he was hospitalized in 2015 and he spoke to them. He was 88. That was his last class."
