Lewis Apsey Mologne; Army Medical Center Commander

Lewis Apsey Mologne, 56, an Army physician and major general who became commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, died of cancer Monday at Walter Reed. In 1983, Mologne took over administration of Walter Reed, the military’s central hospital facility in Washington, and was credited with restoring morale following a period in which three commanders had left within five years. When Mologne became commander, Walter Reed and the military medical establishment had been plagued by revelations about incompetent physicians, inaccuracies in drug testing, the theft of drugs and unpaid bills. Mologne instituted new procurement systems, streamlined paper work, worked with city police on the drug theft problem and reorganized the military’s urinalysis laboratory at Ft. Meade in Maryland. Mologne, who was twice awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his leadership, retired Aug. 1. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and was commissioned in the Army Corps of Engineers. He also graduated from the Airborne School at Ft. Benning, Ga. He was a company commander in Korea as a young officer and resigned from the Army to attend medical school at the University of Pittsburgh. He was commissioned in the Army Medical Corps after graduation and later worked as a surgeon, administrator and medical professor. In Washington on Monday of cancer.