Dr. George Farah: Physician and Artist

The canvas was stark white, remembers Casa de Mañana resident Dr. George Farah. “I was about seven years old visiting the countryside near Beirut, Lebanon where I grew up,” he said. “I was watching intently as I saw a man and a woman apply colorful paint and gradually change the white canvas from literally nothing to intense beauty. This experience gave me great happiness and started me on a path from which I never strayed – the path to becoming an artist.”

Dr. Farah, a renowned cardiologist with a distinguished practice in Chicago for many years, shares his love of painting with his love of medicine. Both give him great joy. But unlike medicine, he has no formal training as an artist. He either paints at Casa de Mañana’s resident art studio (where he also teaches) or in his apartment.

“I love watercolor landscapes,” Dr. Farah said. “Since I’ve traveled around the world I’ve seen a great deal. Now living at Casa de Mañana I can reflect on my journeys abroad and paint them on canvas to share with others. Sketches I’ve made during my travels take me back to those places. I mentally recreate those scenes and rediscover the feelings I had during that time.” Casa de Mañana’s exceptional seaside location with its magnificent light and natural beauty provides Dr. Farah a perfect palate. In fact, he has dedicated part of a calendar he produces each year to capturing Casa’s beauty. Its many buildings as well as the La Jolla shoreline and cove in which it sits grace the calendar’s pages.

“I never paint from a picture,” Dr. Farah said. “I visit every place I paint in person and make a sketch. I take the sketch home and apply watercolor. It’s very relaxing. I feel that I lose myself in the moment.”

Dr. Farah’s watercolors have been featured in exhibits and in magazines including several times on the cover of Chicago Medicine, the official publication of the Chicago Medical Society. “When I first saw Casa, the ocean and the architecture I told my daughter I want to live here,” he said. “Who wouldn’t? It’s picture perfect.”

Resident Voices: The Greatest Generation

By Ed McQuiston, resident at Casa de Mañana

This month we recognize another Casa resident, Albert Fitzpatrick, born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Upon graduating high school in 1943, he knew what he wanted to do – “Fly, rather than walk”. In July he enlisted in the Army Air Corps flight training program and received his wings as a Flight Officer. In New Guinea he flew troop support missions with combat cargo, infantry, and the wounded. Moving on into the Philippines then Okinawa and, eventually, Japan, he flew B-25, B-26, B-17, and cargo aircraft until 1946, when he returned home.

He remained in the Air Force active reserve in Long Beach, CA, attending USC, where he received a Bachelors degree in Business, then a Masters degree in Business Administration. Recalled in the Korean war, he flew C-47 aircraft in a weather squadron for a year.

Subsequent tours of duty included teaching Air Force ROTC classes at Baylor University in Business and Economics while he earned a Master of Science in Economics; then for one year study at the Air Force Institute of Technology; AF Contract Representative to the North American and Douglas Aircraft Manufacturers; After receiving a PhD. In Economics from USC, he taught economics classes for six years at the Air Force Academy. After 24 years, he retired from the Air Force in 1966 as a Major, with 6 Combat Air Medals, numerous battle stars and area campaign medals.

In his second career as a Professor of Economics, he taught classes at the University of Colorado and University of Maine, where he settled with his wife, June, to raise his family of 4 at Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He became a Registered Investment Adivisor and Expert Witness Authority on Personnel Economic Value in law cases up to and including being referenced by the Supreme Court. He finally retired at the age of 80.