Christopher Prine Phelps

PHELPS, Christopher Prine, 64, of Land O’ Lakes, passed away Sunday, January 27, 2008. He was born in Rahway, NJ, and moved to Florida from California in 1976. He earned a B.S. degree from Lafayette College and his Ph.D. from Rutgers University. He completed a 3 year NIH postdoctoral fellowship at the UCLA School of Medicine. Dr. Phelps became an assistant professor at the USF College of Medicine in 1976. As both a professor and researcher, he worked his way up to the position of chair of the Department of Anatomy. He was most recently, the faculty leader for the first year medical school curriculum in the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology. Chris was very family-oriented, keeping in frequent contact with his mother and brothers and spending his annual summer vacations at the Phelps family home on the shores of Lake Champlain in northern Vermont. His hobbies and interests were many and varied as was his love of music. Early on he was introduced to books of L. Frank Baum and was a Wizard of Oz fan for half a century. He kept tropical fish tanks throughout his life. An avid reader, perusing the New York Times was a part of his daily routine. He was a history buff with a great admiration for Thomas Jefferson. At a very young age, he attained the rank of Eagle Scout, Order of the Arrow and volunteered as a leader of his son's troop and neighborhood pack for years in Land O' Lakes. A fan and supporter of the USF Bulls football team, he had purchased season tickets to home games for the past 3 years. He was an auto racing enthusiast and had recently attended events at Sebring, Daytona, and Atlanta. Chris is survived by his wife of 38 years, Betty; son, Adam; daughter, Jessica Phelps; mother, Alta Phelps of NJ; brothers, Lee Phelps of MA & Daniel Phelps of NJ. A Celebration of his Life will be held at Harvester United Methodist Church, 2432 Collier Parkway, Land O’ Lakes, FL, on Saturday at 10:30AM. The family will receive friends at Loyless Funeral Home on Friday from 6:00PM to 8:00PM. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to The Gulf Ridge Council, Boy Scouts of America, Memorial Tribute Fund www.scoutingfriends.org/donate or American Heart Association http://donate.americanheart.org or Dr. Christopher P. Phelps Memorial Fund, USF Health College of Medicine, MDC 70, 12901 Bruce B. Downs Blvd, Tampa, FL 33612. To find more on Dr. Phelps, go to the USF Health homepage website http://hscweb3.hsc.usf.edu/health/now/?p=346. hn glover death datepsychology and lung cancer