As I called him, "Doctor Moorer" was my pediatric doctor growing up in Tallahassee in the late 1980s-to early 2000s. Even 30 years later, I remember going to his office with great clarity.  Dr. Moorer came in once after hours for an emergency sewing up of the back of my head after I fell off the bed jumping and hit my head on chair leg to end my fall.  As he injected my skull with lidocaine, he looked at 5-year old me and said: "Well, now we can call you numbskull." I was terribly offended and said something back to him that I would rather not type. He looked at me, still with some affection, and said, again to a five-year old, "Well, you don't have to get pejorative about it." I was so blessed to have the kind of doctor that would use such a grown-up word at that age. He had great respect for children. That was clear. It was a privilege for me that Doctor Moorer was my first impression of what a doctor is--because he was everything a doctor should be. 

Sam and I were born only 5 days apart but in different parts of the country. We actually meet again at Harvard in '59 and became roommates after our Freshman year. His Mom and Dad were friends with mine for years in the education world; but, Sam and I never attended the same public schools. He was at FSU's "demonstration school" until he went to Indian Springs (Prep) near Birmingham Alabama. His work with children is legendary and his legacy is great. He was a great, gentle Giant and will be dearly missed. 

Dr.  Moorer was a mentor who taught me so much about recognizing child abuse. Tonight, four of us got together to have our own little memorial...Elizabeth Jackson, Kimberly Ellis, Helen Ervin and myself. We shared memories and felt he was up in Heaven watching. He will be missed.

As a prosecutor I saw how Sam's life was devoted to the protection of children, and through his expertise giving the truth of what they had experienced a voice.  He was a committed and compassionate professional who will be greatly missed.

I will always remember your support through hard times, the encouragement to finish Harvard (I couldn't have done it without you), the trips to Windermere in England and to Scotland and Alaska and so many other places around the world that I had wanted to see, and how you shared your knowledge of history with me. I remember your kindess to my brother when Craig was in the midst of a horrible times and lost his son, how you invited him stay at your beach house to recover. I remember the shocked look on your face when I first met you and beat you that night at a tabletop wargam and how you looked at Anderson so seriously and said "Keep this one." I still remember the teary eyed smile you tried to hide the first time I called you "Dad". Love you forever, Dad. Your Naval cap and insignia are going in my seaplane, so you will always be with me in the sky.

What a great and appropriate picture of Sam!  Wish I could have been there sharing a cold one with him.  What a great person and doctor he was.  Sam and I go back 53 years at Shands as I began my residency in Pediatrics.  Sam was an intern and one of the first people I met there.  We developed our friendship then and it continued here as we practiced Peds. together in a building we built in '72 with Mary Beth Seay.  Sam was one of the best pediatricians I have ever known, and was truly the most expert in child abuse, without compare.  He was extremely knowledgable and well read in many aspects: in literature, music, theatre, and had a wonderfully clever sense of humor.  We'll miss him greatly!

AVIS DE DÉCÈS

Sam H. Moorer, Jr., M.D.

23 juin 1941 – 27 février 2020

Culley's MeadowWood Funeral Home

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