Dr. Gerald Fradkoff; Devoted Practice to Helping Poor

Dr. Gerald Fradkoff, who treated poor and minority patients in his Western Avenue Family Medical Clinic until it was burned out in last year’s riots, has died of cancer. He was 59.

Fradkoff, who died Nov. 14 at the Hospital of the Good Samaritan, had resumed his practice in the same Hollywood neighborhood, but with limited facilities.

The doctor was one of several people honored as “Heroes of the L.A. Riots” at a dinner dance in the Biltmore Hotel last April.

Fradkoff developed a reputation for helping immigrant families of all nationalities at his Hollywood clinic, usually for free. If his patients had insurance, it was usually Medi-Cal. He rarely billed patients and often paid personally for their prescriptions at a nearby pharmacy.

He earned “spiritual rewards” treating the poor, he told The Times last year, which he could not find working in more profitable settings.

Fradkoff, who watched on television while his clinic burned, considered abandoning the mixed-race neighborhood, but eventually re-established his office with help from the Los Angeles County Medical Assn.

“I have to stay in this community,” he told his accountant brother, Ron, who wanted him to move to the suburbs. “This is where my patients are.”

Fradkoff was a graduate of the UC Irvine College of Medicine and was affiliated with Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles and Hollywood Presbyterian-Queen of Angels Hospital.

He is survived by his wife, Jaya.