Obituary of Barbara Randall

Barbara Laura Paige Randall Pioneer in Education and Medicine April 13, 1929 - November 30, 2011 Barbara Paige Randall, M.D. died on November 30, 2011 in Hollywood, California at Kaiser Permanente Hospital, where she had practiced as an Anesthesiologist from 1973-1985. She was the first daughter of the Hon. Myles Andersen Paige, a distinguished black judge appointed by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1936 as the first black City Magistrate in the City of New York and in the United States, and Dorothy Boyd Paige, a teacher for the City of New York. Dr. Randall was a true pioneer with a distinguished and exceptional education and career. At a time when few black women attended college, and few women of any color became medical doctors, Dr. Randall graduated from a prestigious private college and became a highly respected physician. She began her education as a gifted student at the Speyer School in New York City. As reported by the New York Times (NYT, 12/15/40), Barbara was one of 23 students of psychologically certified genius who participated in an experiment at this special school. The Speyer School was opened by the Board of Education and Teachers College of New York for teaching gifted children. She attended the Horace Mann Lincoln School for high school, graduating in 1945. She went on to Vassar College where she obtained her B.S. in Chemistry in 1949, being one of the few black women in that era to attend Vassar. In 1953, after a short marriage to Beryl Ingram Randall, Dr. Randall returned home to Brooklyn with her beloved baby daughter Karen, and into the loving care of her parents Myles and Dorothy. The extended family of her grandparents Samuel and Sara Boyd, her Aunt Virginia and Uncle Lenny Savoy, Aunt Margaret and Uncle Sam Delany, and first cousins Boyd Savoy, Dorothy Savoy, Samuel Delany, and Peggy Delany, enveloped Barbara and Karen. Dr. Randall pursued her education by being one of the first black women to obtain her Doctor of Medicine at State of New York, Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine Center, in 1961. She trained at the Department of Hospitals, Kings County Hospital Center, where she interned in 1962 and completed her Residency in Anesthesiology in 1964. Having obtained her licenses to practice medicine in New York and California, she practiced as an anesthesiologist in Brooklyn and Queens and then followed her daughter to California in 1973, where she practiced anesthesiology with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group from 1973 until 1985. The pride of Dr. Randall's life was her daughter Karen, who, like her mother, has blazed trails. An extremely respected attorney, Karen Randall was one of the first if not the first black woman to be Managing Partner of an office of a major law firm (Katten, Muchin & Zavis), and then joined Universal Studios in 1996 to become the first black woman to be General Counsel of a major motion picture studio. Dr. Randall retired in 1985 and continued a vibrant life. In 1999, Barbara was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a cancer for which there is no cure. Having bounced back from several other medical hurdles, she took the cancer diagnosis in stride and battled the cancer for twelve years. Under the care of her devoted caregiver Devon Herrador, she led a normal life in her home until her last illness that began the week of Thanksgiving. She passed away peacefully, surrounded and supported by her loving family who will miss her dearly: her daughter, Karen Randall, her granddaughter, Evelyn Paige Hines, her sister, Virginia "Betty" Haywood, her cousin and goddaughter, Sara Boyd "Peggy" Delany and her long-standing caregiver Devon Herrador. She is also survived by her grandson Randall Scott Hines, her son-in-law Henry Lloyd Hines III and her brother-in- law L. Julian Haywood, M.D.