An Enduring Kinship
Support of the Miller School is a family affair for George and Emile Sabga
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| George and Emile Sabga’s large family, which has formed a close friendship with surgeon Alan Livingstone, supports his research as well as other Miller School initiatives. |
From time to time, a physician-patient relationship evolves into a treasured long-term friendship. So it was with Deerfield Beach real estate investor George Sabga when he made his way to the University of Miami Miller School campus in 1980.
Suffering from Crohn’s disease, a relapsing illness characterized by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, Sabga sought the services of Miller School surgeon Alan Livingstone, M.D.
Livingstone “came very highly recommended by doctors who’d operated on me in Montreal,” Sabga says of the man who today is the Lucille and DeWitt Daughtry Professor and chairman of the DeWitt Daughtry Family Department of Surgery. “His air of confidence immediately put me at ease,” adds Sabga, who is originally from Trinidad. “I knew that if I had to put my life in someone’s hands, I wanted it to be Alan’s.”
Livingstone’s treatment of Sabga went well, and the men hit it off. Eventually Sabga, along with his business partner and brother, Emile Sabga, invited Livingstone to dinner, where they were joined by their spouses. A bond was formed that evening that endures as a healthy friendship almost three decades later.
“We’ve done things together, traveled together,” George notes. “Dr. Livingstone is a good friend, a true friend,” Emile adds.
Livingstone has celebrated with the brothers at the weddings of all of their children; when Livingstone’s son, Adam, got married recently, George and Emile were guests. “I’ve had the privilege of knowing the Sabga clan for 30 years now,” Livingstone says. “I know their children and grandchildren. Their extended family has hundreds of people, and I have come to know a large number of them.”
The professional relationship has likewise expanded over the years. Livingstone has “operated on many members of the family and they’ve all done extremely well,” Emile Sabga says. Whenever anyone in the Sabgas’ extended clan has a serious problem, they come to the Miller School’s medical center for expert care.
As they came to appreciate the cutting-edge treatment available at the Miller School, the Sabgas grew interested in furthering the school’s medical and scientific discoveries. Over the years George and Emile Sabga, in conjunction with family members George Laquis, M.D., George Rahael, Richard Azar, and the late Abraham Laquis, have recognized and generously supported Livingstone’s research.
They also admire and support the work of Andreas Tzakis, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Liver and GI Transplantation Division, and Eugene Schiff, M.D., director of the Center for Liver Diseases.
Donations from the Sabga family have helped fund an endowed chair for Livingstone, making it possible for him to recruit physician-scientists and Ph.D.s. The Sabgas also are playing a role in support of the DeWitt Daughtry Family Department of Surgery’s renovation of 16,500 square feet of research space in the Rosenstiel Medical Science Building.
“The Sabgas are warm, enthusiastic, and interested in unselfishly helping others,” Livingstone says. “They are generous to a fault, appreciative of their own good fortune, and happy to give back to the community in which they live.”
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