Obituary

Louis Leibovitz, the pathologist who extended veterinary medicine to the shellfish industry, died Aug. 22 in Falmouth, Mass., after a long battle with cancer. The professor emeritus of avian and aquatic medicine was 77.

The shellfish-farming industry ­ in which juvenile oysters and clams are hatched in sheltered saltwater farms, then "seeded" into open waters where they develop shells, mature and are harvested ­ was struggling with fish disease when Leibovitz developed his specialty in the early 1970s. Some of the same diseases, which had depleted natural shellfish populations in open water and converted fishermen to shellfish farmers, were killing newly hatched larvae at the hatcheries.

An avian pathologist who worked with duck and other poultry farms before turning to aquatic animals, Leibovitz took a diagnostic approach to shellfish disease. Shellfish hatcheries in New York's Long Island region, where clam and oyster propagation and harvesting were a multimillion-dollar industry, welcomed his assistance. Leibovitz identified the bacterial, fungal and viral organisms as well as toxins from other marine organisms that were killing shellfish larvae at the hatcheries. Then he helped devise management practices to prevent disease recurrence.

His veterinary extension services on behalf of the industry were funded, in part, by the New York Sea Grant Institute. Expressing his gratitude to pathologist Leibovitz in 1978, one Long Island clam-seed producer, Charlie Hart, said: "We're always gambling with Mother Nature. But at least now we've got some power over her."

Leibovitz joined the faculty of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell in 1973 after serving for 10 years as a field veterinarian at the Duck Research Laboratory in Eastport, N.Y. At Cornell, he developed new courses in the diseases of aquatic animals and also taught in the "aquavet" program operated jointly by Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania and the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole. In 1988 he retired as director of the Laboratory for Marine Animal Health at Woods Hole and as a professor at Cornell.

Born May 29, 1921, Leibovitz attended Pennsylvania State University until 1942, served four years in the Army Veterinary Service and won a Battle Star in the European theater. He earned a V.M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1950. Leibovitz operated a private veterinary practice until 1956 then served as professor of avian pathology and director of poultry diagnostics at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Pa.

Leibovitz was predeceased Aug. 4 by his wife of 46 years, Anne Twer Leibovitz. He is survived by two sons, Daniel Leibovitz of Hilliard, Ohio, and Henry Leibovitz of North Kingston, R.I. Services were Wednesday, Aug. 26, on Cape Cod. Memorial donations may be made to the Falmouth Jewish Congregation, 7 Hatchville Road, East Falmouth, Mass. 02536.