Joshua Perper
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Joshua Perper | |
|---|---|
| Broward County Chief Medical Examiner | |
| In office July 1, 1994 – October 30, 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Ron Wright |
| Succeeded by | Darin Trelka (Acting) |
| Allegheny County Coroner | |
| In office January 4, 1982 – July 1, 1994 | |
| Preceded by | Sanford Edberg |
| Succeeded by | F. James Gregis (Acting)[a] |
| Allegheny County Coroner Acting | |
| In office January 9, 1980 – March 2, 1981 | |
| Preceded by | Cyril Wecht |
| Succeeded by | Sanford Edberg |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 17, 1932 |
| Died | July 12, 2021 (aged 88) Boca Raton, Florida, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Sheila |
| Alma mater | Hebrew University of Jerusalem Johns Hopkins University |
| Occupation | Forensic pathologist Toxicologist |
| a.^ Gregis held the title of Acting Coroner from the date of Perper's resignation in July 1994, until Cyril Wecht was elected to permanently fill the vacancy. | |
Joshua Perper (December 17, 1932 – July 12, 2021) was an American forensic pathologist and toxicologist. He served as the Chief Medical Examiner of Broward County, Florida for seventeen years, during which time he conducted autopsies on a number of famous individuals, including Anna Nicole Smith. Prior to his appointment to that position, he served as Allegheny County's Coroner serving metro Pittsburgh.
Perper was born in Bacău, Romania. Being Jewish, he escaped the Nazis during World War II[1] and, following the war, the Russians. At the age of 18, he moved to Israel, graduating from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Medicine (medical school) in 1960 and Faculty of Law (law school) in 1966. In 1969, he finished post graduate studies in forensic pathology at Johns Hopkins University. He served as Associate Medical Examiner, Senior Research Fellow and then Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, Maryland from 1969 to 1971. Between 1971 and 1994, while living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Perper was a toxicologist and then Chief Forensic Pathologist in the Allegheny County Coroner's Office (now called the Medical Examiner's Office), serving under Cyril Wecht.
Allegheny County Coroner
In 1980, Wecht was elected to the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners. Wecht did not resign as Coroner until January 9, two days after his swearing-in as Commissioner, as the law did not prohibit him from holding both the offices of Coroner and Commissioner.[2] He resigned under pressure from a variety of sources, including his predecessor as coroner, Ralph Stalter, a Republican, and the administration of Governor Dick Thornburgh, also a Republican.[3] Wecht initially recommended that Perper succeed him, and indeed Perper held the title of Acting Coroner until Thornburgh appointed Sanford Edburg to succeed Wecht. While Perper initially rejected the appointment as unconstitutional, the State Supreme Court upheld Thornburgh's right to appoint Edberg, who duly took over the office of Coroner on March 2, 1981.[4] The transition was not met without a brief physical altercation between the two men. Perper would return to the Coroner's office in January 1982, after he defeated Edberg in the fall 1981 general election.[5]
Los Angeles County Medical Examiner appointment
In February 1991, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to name Perper the County's new Chief Medical Examiner.[6] While Perper initially accepted the posting, he backed-out of the job two months before he was to begin his duties. Perper cited a variety of reasons behind his decision, including the economic–media reports which indicated Perper and his wife, a real estate agent, believed they could not afford the kind of home to which they had become accustomed—and the emotional—Perper's wife also did not want to leave behind the couple's friends.[7]
He would therefore remain Allegheny County Coroner for another three years.
