Dr. Arthur Louis Naddell, M.D. FACP OBITUARY

Dr. Arthur Louis Naddell, M.D. FACP OBITUARY

Dr. Arthur Louis Naddell, M.D., FACP, a widely respected internist whose medical career spanned more than 65 years, died peacefully on December 9, 2025, at St. David’s Hospital in Austin, Texas. He was 90, just four weeks shy of his 91st birthday.

Born on January 3, 1935, in Brooklyn, New York, Arthur grew up during the difficult years of the Great Depression and World War II, a time and place of limited resources. Despite these challenges, he possessed an intense drive to excel. He graduated from Boston University School of Medicine cum laude and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He completed his internship at Boston City Hospital, residency in internal medicine at Montefiore Hospital in New York, and a fellowship in gastroenterology. Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in 1970 and recertified in 1977, he took pride in continuing to sit for board examinations and urged colleagues throughout Florida and across the country to maintain the same high standards.

After his fellowship, Arthur served as a Captain in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam era, caring for service members with the seriousness that defined all his work. In 1968, he joined Lauderdale Medical Group in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he practiced internal medicine for more than three decades and later served as President and Medical Director of the group.

Arthur held many leadership roles in organized medicine. He served as Chief of the Department of Internal Medicine at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, as President of the Florida Society of Internal Medicine, and as a long-time delegate and board member in state and local medical organizations. He was elected a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He also served as Western Hemisphere Director of SOS International, coordinating medical services across the Americas, and contributed to national health policy discussions in Washington, D.C.

Arthur’s curiosity and work took him around the world. Fluent in English, Spanish, and French, and conversant in Yiddish, he used his language skills to connect with patients and colleagues and to navigate travels that eventually brought him to every continent on Earth except Antarctica.

Teaching and service to veterans became a major focus later in his career. He directed teaching programs for the University of Florida and Nova Southeastern University, and he cared for veterans through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, including service in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and later at VA facilities in Texas, Florida, and Michigan, most recently in Daytona Beach. After a career spanning more than 65 years as a medical professional, he retired from practice in September 2025, having served patients in over 300,000 appointments.

Arthur was known not only as an exceptionally thorough and devoted physician, but also as a natural athlete, an avid tennis player, and a captivating storyteller with an encyclopedic memory and a song for every situation. Earlier in life he was offered a contract to play baseball with the Washington Senators after pitching for a Brooklyn city league team that traded victories with Sandy Koufax, but he chose to pursue medicine instead. He was also known for his deep knowledge of wine and food.

He is survived by his wife, Janet Naddell of Austin, Texas; by Liselotte, a close family friend; his sons AJ Naddell of Austin, Alex Naddell of Nashville, Tennessee, and Marc Naddell of Palo Alto, California; his daughter, Monique Naddell of Nashville, Tennessee; and seven grandchildren in the United States and China.

A celebration of Arthur’s life will be held in Florida in March 2026, with date and details to be announced. Friends who wish to receive information about the service may contact the family at arthurnaddell@gmail.com.