By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Lester W. Sanders Jr., a retired pediatrician and clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati, died Feb. 6 of heart failure in New Smyrna Beach, Fla. He and his wife had moved to Florida after he retired.

Dr. Sanders, 75, was born in Cincinnati and grew up in Amberley Village. He was a graduate of Walnut Hills High School, the University of Cincinnati and the UC College of Medicine.

After medical school, he served in the Army Medical Corps in the Far East. He and his wife, Phyllis, lived on Okinawa while he was chief of pediatrics in charge of several islands in the area.

They returned to Greater Cincinnati in 1960, and Dr. Sanders set up his private pediatric practice in Kenwood. For a time he was medical and dental staff president at Children's Hospital Medical Center.

He taught internal and pediatric medicine with a special interest in cystic fibrosis from that time until his retirement. Dr. Sanders ran the cystic fibrosis clinic at UC, according to his wife.

He was a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the Cincinnati Pediatric Society, serving as president in 1973-74.

He closed his practice and moved to Sarasota and then New Smyrna Beach.

In addition to his wife of 54 years, survivors include two sons, Lester "Pete" W. Sanders III of Tupelo, Miss., and M. Bradford Sanders of Montgomery; a brother, Paul C. Sanders;and four grandchildren.

Services have been held. Burial will be in Sarasota in the spring. Memorials: Hospice of Volusia, 3800 Woodbriar Trail, Port Orange, FL 32119 or Grace Episcopal Church, 4110 Ridgewood Ave., Port Orange, FL 32127.

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com