Riba, Leander William, 1897-1982

Professor of urology, Northwestern University Medical School, 1928-1973.

Leander William Riba was born on May 15, 1897 in Appleton, Minnesota. He graduated from Red Wing (Minnesota) Seminary College in 1916 and served in the U.S. Army Aviation section from 1917 to 1919. He earned his B.S. from the University of North Dakota in 1923 and his M.D. from Chicago's Rush Medical College in 1925. Riba obtained a residency in urology at Northwestern University Medical School. He was named head of the Medical School's out-patient genital-urinary clinic. In addition to his private practice, Riba was associate professor of urology in the Northwestern Medical School from 1928 until 1973.

From 1942 to 1945 Riba served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. He was stationed at Letterman (California) and Bushnell (Utah) General Hospitals as chief urologist. Following his discharge in 1945 he returned to surgical practice at Passavant Hospital and his teaching at Northwestern. In 1980 He established the Riba Urological Fellowship at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Riba published eighty articles in his urological speciality during his career. He was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a member the American and Chicago Medical Associations, and a member of the American and Chicago Urological Societies. Riba married Evelyn Monroe in 1929. They had three children. After her death in 1970 Riba married Myra Brenneman in 1976. Riba died on October 6, 1982.