Photograph courtesy of Debbie Nattress.
LeRoy William “Lee” Nattress Jr., PhD, passed away December 25, 2013. He was 81.
Nattress, an assistant clinical professor at the Loma Linda University, California, School of Public Health, contributed to advances and education in the O&P profession and volunteered with many organizations for people with amputations and other disabilities. In 1961, he coauthored a report about prosthetic fabrication procedures and component choices, which was published by the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association (AOPA) where he was the education director. During the 1960s, he also served as the executive director of the American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics & Pedorthics (ABC), and he was one of the first appointees to President John F. Kennedy’s Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped.
In the 1970s, Nattress founded the O&P program at 916 Area Vocational/Technical Institute, now Century College, White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and later worked for Otto Bock Orthopedic, now Ottobock Healthcare, Minneapolis, Minnesota, creating its education program to teach the endoskeleton system to prosthetists. He was also the coordinator of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), prosthetic education program.
He is survived by his wife, Debbie Nattress.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Services Center for Independent Life (SCIL), an organization serving people with disabilities, where Nattress was the executive director.
