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George Edward Blackman MD

Born on 2-7-1922. He was born in Charlotte, NC. He was accomplished in the area of Healthcare. He later died on 1-1-1986.
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Dr. George E. Blackman was a member of the Buffalo Board of Education and a prominent physician, who was the first black ever elected to the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Blackman was a veteran school board member and served as its vice president and president from 1970 to 1973. At the time of his death, he was serving another three year term on the board as Ferry District representative.
He was a native of Charlotte, North Carolina where he graduated from Johnson C. Smith University in 1941. He graduated from the Howard University Medical School in Washington, D.C. in 1944. He also completed a graduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania, finishing the Graduate School of Surgery in 1953.
Blackman moved to Buffalo in 1954 to continue his medical studies at Roswell Park Memorial Institute. His long record of posts and honors in Buffalo included leadership of the Western New York Medical Society, the Buffalo Urban League and the Jesse E. Nash Community Health Center. He was the founder of the Buffalo Negro Scholarship Fund. He was a former member of the Buffalo Urban Renewal Board, a medical examiner for the Buffalo Civil Service Commission and one of the first two blacks to join the Buffalo Athletic Club.
His service with the Buffalo Board of Education dated to the 1960s and he was unanimously elected president of the appointed board, the first black to serve in that post, in 1970. After subsequently serving a term as vice president Blackman left the board following the conversion to elected offices in 1974. He returned to school board service when he won election to the Ferry District seat in 1978.
Dr. Blackman practiced medicine from offices on Michigan Avenue since 1958. He was formerly the chief of colon and rectal surgery at Roswell Park Memorial Institute. He was appointed to the Buffalo Urban League in 1961 and chaired its board of directors in 1971 and was the medical director of the Nash Health Center.
He received several honors including the National Conference of Christians and Jews brotherhood award and the Urban League's Evans-Young Award for "dedication to the causes of human dignity, equal opportunity and total community understanding."
Dr. Blackman's health declined following an assault and robbery in his medical offices.
He was married to Bettye and they had one son, George, Jr.