Obituary of Dr. Frederick Whelan

Frederick J. Whelan, M.D., 1922-2018.

Charlotte, NC—Frederick John Whelan, 95, died of natural causes Wednesday, March 21, 2018, at the Cypress Stewart Health Center in Charlotte.He leaves seven children and ten grandchildren. He was married to Jeane Marie Overend from 1949 until her death in 2005. Born and raised in New York City, Dr. Whelan graduated from Chaminade High School in Mineola, NY in 1940 and St. John’s University in Queens, NY, graduating in 1943 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. After graduating from St. John’s, Dr. Whelan enlisted in the Navy where he was trained as a medic, and after the War started medical school at the Long Island College of Medicine, now the SUNY Downstate Medical Center, from which he graduated in 1949.  Following post-graduate training he specialized in Radiology.He interned at Nassau Hospital, turned down a residency offer at Yale New Haven Hospital to stay closer to home and completed his residency at Meadowbrook Hospital in Hempstead, NY.   He then joined the partnership of  Feuerstein, Herstone & Wasserman in 1954 where he practiced as a radiologist on Long Island at Huntington Hospital and Southside Hospital in Bay Shore. This group grew, and eventually became Medical Arts Radiology that currently has nine locations on Long Island. Near the end of his career he was Chief of Staff at Huntington Hospital for several years. He and Jeane lived and raised their family in Huntington NY until his retirement in 1984, and during his retirement he lived in Savannah, GA, from 1984 to 1999 and Charlotte, NC, from 1999 until his death.Dr. Whelan was a sprinter on his high school track team, with a 10 flat best time in the 100-yard dash and was an avid single-handicap golfer for most of his adult life. In addition to his three holes in one, the highlight of his golf career was to shoot an even-par 72 at Scotland’s Old Course at St. Andrew’s. He bought a new, full set of golf clubs when he was eighty-eight.He was an avid and quite fine watercolorist winning prizes in local competitions on several occasions. In his youth he would take the ride into NYC for Sat afternoon dance matinées that often featured a young Frank Sinatra and learned to dance to the "Big Band" with old blue eyes.Dr. Whelan was a man of strong conviction and a man of deep religious faith. He was a proud parishioner of St. Patrick’s in Huntington, NY, St. James in Savanah GA, and St. Vincent de Paul in Charlotte, NC. He was a strong-willed, disciplined achiever in his profession, in sport, and in his artistic pursuits. He was friendly, outgoing, and outspoken man, respected by all who knew him as a man of enormous personal integrity.A wake will be held for Dr. Whelan from 7pm-9pm Sunday evening, March 25, at M.A. Connell Funeral Home at 394 New York Ave. in Huntington Station, and his funeral mass will be said at St. Patrick’s Church in Huntington on Monday at 10:45 am.