 A
Leader
among Alumni
M.
P. “Mickey” Demos, M.D. ’57, J.D. ’86,
never forgot his first day of medical school. “That
September morning at the age of 23 was the culmination
of my dream to become a doctor. In four years, I would
be called Doctor Demos for the rest of my life,” he
says.
The son of poor immigrants from
Greece who was accepted to UM on a boxing scholarship,
Demos had the privilege of being selected to attend the first medical school
in Florida—the Miller School of Medicine—on a scholarship loan. His
class began with 42 students and graduated with just 34 in 1957 (the second graduating
class of the medical school).
He never forgot the help he received
as a young medical student, and he was determined to
give back to the University. In 1969 Demos became the
founding president of
the UM Medical Alumni Association, traveling coast to coast at his own expense
to establish regional chapters. In 1972 Demos received the association’s
highest honor, the Alumnus of the Year award, for his activities on behalf of
the Alumni Association and his contributions to the community.
He served in an advisory capacity
with the administration and faculty of the Miller School
of Medicine and would become the first medical alumnus
elected
to the UM Board of Trustees, the first medical student in Iron Arrow, and the
first alumni member of the Society of University Founders, a University giving
society for donors of $25,000 and above.
A lifelong learner, Demos returned
to UM in 1982—this time as a law student.
He received his law degree in 1986. In 1985 he founded the American Institute
of Medical Law to sponsor continuing medical education for physicians. Demos says, “I owe everything that I have accomplished in 75 years to the
University of Miami, which helped me when I needed it in obtaining an education
that I could not financially afford at the time.”
Demos and his wife are now living
in Greece on the farm his great-grandfather built in
1842. “Medical school alumni are welcome to come see me in Sparta,” says
Demos. |
