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Spain, David Michael

Male 1913 - 1993  (80 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Spain, David Michael  [1, 2
    Born 25 Jul 1913  Brooklyn, Kings, New York, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Gender Male 
    Birth 25 Jul 1913  Brooklyn, Kings, New York, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [3, 4
    Death 2 Oct 1993  [3, 4
    Died 2 Oct 1993  New Rochelle, Westchester, New York, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Obituary for David M. Spain (Aged 79) 10 Oct 1993  Chicago, Illinois Find all individuals with events at this location  [5
    Person ID I22195  Our Family
    Last Modified 16 Jan 2024 

    Family Rosenberger, Lotte,   b. 27 Mar 1925, Hamburg, Germany Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 5 Apr 2012, Brooklyn, Kings, New York, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 87 years) 
    Last Modified 16 Jan 2024 
    Family ID F8454  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • Dr. David M. Spain, a New York pathologist and civil rights advocate whose autopsies provided evidence in the slayings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964, died on Saturday in a nursing home in New Rochelle, N.Y. He was 80 and was a longtime Manhattan resident.

      He had long suffered from Alzheimer's disease, said his daughter, Dr. Julie Spain.

      He was Westchester County's chief medical examiner from 1949 to 1953. Over the years, he was also director of pathology at Brookdale Hospital Center in Brooklyn and clinical professor of pathology at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. He also taught at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University.

      In 1964, Dr. Spain performed private autopsies on the bodies of two of three civil rights workers whose bodies were found near Philadelphia, Miss., buried deep in an earthen dam. All three had been shot. Found Evidence of Beating

      After it was reported that official autopsies had shown no evidence of beatings or mutilation, Dr. Spain examined the body of James E. Chaney, 21, at the request of Mr. Chaney's mother.

      He concluded that besides being shot, Mr. Chaney had suffered "an extremely severe beating with either a blunt instrument or a chain." Dr. Spain also examined the body of the second victim, Michael H. Schwerner, 24, at the request of William M. Kunstler, the lawyer representing Mr. Schwerner's parents. Dr. Spain attributed Mr. Schwerner's death to a bullet wound.

      Seven members of the Ku Klux Klan eventually served jail terms for the murders of the two men and Andrew Goodman.

      Continue reading the main story
      Dr. Spain's first wife, the former Ruth Borgenicht, died in 1978 after 33 years of marriage.

      He is survived by his wife, Lotte Kunstler; a daughter, Julie, a psychologist who lives in Manhattan; two sons, Dr. Robert, of Manhattan, and Dr. William, of Seattle, both of whom are physicians; two stepdaughters, Karin Goldman of Brooklyn and Dr. Jane Drazek, a physician, of Wichita, Kan.; two grandchildren, and four step-grandchildren
      Dr. David M. Spain, a New York pathologist and civil rights advocate whose autopsies provided evidence in the slayings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964, died on Saturday in a nursing home in New Rochelle, N.Y. He was 80 and was a longtime Manhattan resident.

      He had long suffered from Alzheimer's disease, said his daughter, Dr. Julie Spain.

      He was Westchester County's chief medical examiner from 1949 to 1953. Over the years, he was also director of pathology at Brookdale Hospital Center in Brooklyn and clinical professor of pathology at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. He also taught at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University.

      In 1964, Dr. Spain performed private autopsies on the bodies of two of three civil rights workers whose bodies were found near Philadelphia, Miss., buried deep in an earthen dam. All three had been shot. Found Evidence of Beating

      After it was reported that official autopsies had shown no evidence of beatings or mutilation, Dr. Spain examined the body of James E. Chaney, 21, at the request of Mr. Chaney's mother.

      He concluded that besides being shot, Mr. Chaney had suffered "an extremely severe beating with either a blunt instrument or a chain." Dr. Spain also examined the body of the second victim, Michael H. Schwerner, 24, at the request of William M. Kunstler, the lawyer representing Mr. Schwerner's parents. Dr. Spain attributed Mr. Schwerner's death to a bullet wound.

      Seven members of the Ku Klux Klan eventually served jail terms for the murders of the two men and Andrew Goodman.

      Continue reading the main story
      Dr. Spain's first wife, the former Ruth Borgenicht, died in 1978 after 33 years of marriage.

      He is survived by his wife, Lotte Kunstler; a daughter, Julie, a psychologist who lives in Manhattan; two sons, Dr. Robert, of Manhattan, and Dr. William, of Seattle, both of whom are physicians; two stepdaughters, Karin Goldman of Brooklyn and Dr. Jane Drazek, a physician, of Wichita, Kan.; two grandchildren, and four step-grandchildren

  • Sources 
    1. [S253] Oppenheimer from Aub import.

    2. [S24] Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015, Main SSA Claims source reference.

    3. [S21] U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, Ancestry.com, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc;), Number: 068-14-4456; Issue State: New York; Issue Date: Before 1951.

    4. [S169] U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, Ancestry.com, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.;).

    5. [S3330] Newspapers.com - Chicago Tribune - 10 Oct 1993 - Page 38, (Name: Chicago Tribune;), Obituary for David M. Spain (Aged 79) 10 Oct 1993.