Leo Joseph McCarthy, MD, FRCP Edin/Ire (Professor Emeritus of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine) passed away at this home in Indianapolis on May 12, 2025.
Dr. McCarthy served as Director of Transfusion Medicine at the IU School of Medicine for nearly three decades and was a regular donor to IU School of Medicine, and the Ruth Lilly Medical Library in particular, and was passionate about the study of the history of medicine. In 2015, thanks to a generous gift from Dr. McCarthy, the Ruth Lilly Medical Library was able to renovate the room housing its History of Medicine Collection, which was thereafter named after Dr. McCarthy. That same year, Dr. McCarthy made a generous gift to establish an endowed lectureship on the history of medicine at the medical library. This lectureship brings experts to campus to address topics that not only enlighten and educate students and faculty but instill the same passion to understand the evolution of their profession. The recordings of these lectures are available in IU Media Collections Online.
Dr. McCarthy’s generosity to the school and library will continue after his passing. Thanks to a posthumous endowment from Dr. McCarthy, the Ruth Lilly Medical Library will continue to support the annual Leo J. McCarthy, M.D. History of Medicine Lectureship well into the future. A second endowment will be used for the ongoing support of the physical space, collections, and programming for the library’s History of Medicine Collection. Our library greatly appreciates Dr. McCarthy’s ongoing vision, generosity, and support for the teaching, research, and study of the history of medicine at the IU School of Medicine.
A visitation for Dr. McCarthy’s family and friends will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, June 6 at St. Luke Catholic Church (7575 East Holliday Dr, Indianapolis), followed by a Funeral Mass at 11:30 a.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society or the Humane Society of Indianapolis. More details about Dr. McCarthy’s life and professional accomplishments can be found in his obituary and a recent news post by the IU School of Medicine’s Department of Pathology.
