W. Wayne Lake Jr. ’59

Wayne died March 28, 2023, after a long illness. 

A native of Pass Christian, Miss., he lived in New Orleans most of his adult life. He attended The Hill School where he was active in the skeet and yacht clubs, then on to Princeton, where he majored in chemistry, ate at Charter Club, and was a ranking member of the television squad. His senior-year roommates were Caton, C. Heller, Hutz, Rorke, Toot, and Warden.

Earning a medical degree from Tulane in 1963, Wayne completed military service as a captain with the Air Force Reserve in 1966, then embarked on his lifetime vocation: practicing internal, allergy, and immunology medicine, which he did for 46 years. His career included medical professorships at Tulane and LSU as well as staff positions at Southern Baptist Hospital, Charity Hospital, St. Jude Medical Center, Touro Infirmary, and Ochsner Foundation Hospital. He also cared for patients in a private practice. 

He retired in 2010 to focus on managing his real-estate business, central to which was his love for renovating old New Orleans properties. Wayne loved tennis, wine tasting, cooking, art, antique collecting, and especially skeet shooting with his grandsons. 

He is survived by his wife of 24 years, Melissa; daughters Courtenay, Corinne, and Jane; stepdaughter Megan Cleveland; six grandchildren; and his first wife, Abby Lake.