WINTER HAVEN - Dr. Beach Alexander Brooks, 81, died after a lengthy battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at his residence.

Dr. Beach Alexander Brooks was born on January 14, 1927 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  He was the son of Dr. and Mrs. J. Culpepper Brooks, Sr.  Dr. Brooks graduated from McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and Temple Medical School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He followed his father, brother (Culpepper, Jr.), his grandfather, Dr. John Rathmell and his great grandfather, Dr. John Beach, into the field of medicine. His great grandfather, Dr. Beach, was a Civil War surgeon and Surgeon General of the State of Ohio.  Dr. Brooks interned at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga and completed a three year internal medicine residency at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

Dr. Brooks was a veteran of World War II having served in the ASTP program.  Dr. Brooks and Nancy Keener were married in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1952.  They had four children and moved to Winter Haven, Florida in 1958.  Dr. Brooks was one of the first Board Certified Internist in Winter Haven.  He practiced at the Bond Clinic and then joined Dr. Art Moseley and Dr. George Graf to form the Internal Medicine Associates.  The group later was joined by Dr. Alan Gasner, Dr. Randall Kramer and Dr. Y. T. Lien.  Before Dr. Brooks retired, the IMA group practiced with the Gessler Clinic.

 Dr. Brooks has served as Chairman of the Board of Polk County Medical Association, Chief of Staff and on the Board of Directors of the Winter Haven Hospital, President of Polk County Heart Association. and was a Fellow of American College of Chest Physicians.  He was the Medical Director of the State Farm Regional Florida office for 30 years.  He also served as the team physician for the Red Sox baseball team during their spring training. 

 Dr. Brooks has been a member of the Winter Haven Rotary Club for over 40 years and has served on the Board of Directors.  In the past few years he served as Co-Dictionary Chairman – distributing dictionaries each year to every fifth grader in the Winter Haven area.  He was a Paul Harris Fellow. 

 In recent years, Dr. Brooks served on the Friends of the Winter Haven Library Board and the Community Foundation of Winter Haven Committee.  He was a charter member of the Lake Region Yacht and Country Club. 

 Dr. Brooks was a member of Covenant Presbyterian Church where he served as a Sunday school teacher, a Deacon and an Elder.

 He is survived by his wife, Nancy, his sons Beach A. Brooks, Jr. (wife Carol), Stephen K. Brooks and daughters, Elizabeth B. Attaway (husband John) and Nancy B. Lopez (husband, Gerry) and grandchildren Blair, Beach III and Drew Brooks, John III, Brooke and Ashley Attaway and Gerry, Max, Sam and Sarah Lopez.

 Services will be held at 11:30 am, Saturday July 12, 2008 at Covenant Presbyterian 1410 Dundee Road, Winter Haven, Fl 33884. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Covenant Presbyterian Church or The ALS Association, 27001 Agoura Road, Suite 250 Calabasas Hills, CA 91301-5104