RANGASWAMY-- Leela, MD. It is with a heavy heart we announce the passing of Dr. Leela Rangaswamy on January 15, 2020 in the Stonegates Retirement Community. Leela was born in Nagpur, India and grew up in New Delhi. She developed a love for learning and for helping others early in life. By the age of 23, she had completed medical training at Madras Medical College. Leela then worked for several years as a Resident in eminent hospitals and medical research centers in New Delhi before arriving in the United States in the early 1970s. She settled in Wilmington, DE where she established permanent residence while working at the A.I. Dupont Institute. She went on to specialize in hand surgery, neurosurgery and pediatric orthopedics. In an illustrious 50-year career, Leela excelled as a surgeon, a medical researcher, and an educator holding teaching appointments in the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, and Harvard Medical School, among other places. She was a true pioneer, breaking through many glass ceilings in her profession, notably at a time when women were not encouraged to become physicians, let alone orthopedic surgeons. She served with distinction as the Chief of Orthopedics at Blythedale Children's Hospital and practiced surgery at Helen Hayes (Columbia Presbyterian) Hospital and Montefiore Hospital. After living many years in New York, Leela moved to Boston in the mid-1990s where she became the first woman Deputy Editor of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, eventually joining the Harvard faculty, the staff of Boston Children's Hospital, and HMO Harvard Vanguard. It was at Helen Hayes that Leela met her husband, Martin Hart, the hospital's attending child psychiatrist. They would go on to spend the next 45 years sharing their varied interests and supporting each other's professional growth. In the last two decades of her career, Leela worked with peer and utilization review agencies and the policy-makers of health insurance companies in writing guidelines for the certification of surgical procedures and equipment. Her professional accomplishments range from clinical practice and surgery to academic contributions in education and research, as well as policy and consulting work both in the U.S. and internationally. Her brilliance, vivacity, and eagerness to take on new challenges was in full view in other parts of her life as well. A keen traveler, she regularly visited the major centers of art and culture across Europe and developed deep appreciation for the architecture, cuisine, and music of many parts of the world, evidenced also in the large collection of books, paintings, and musical recordings that formed her library over the years. She not only enjoyed the finer aspects of life, she shared this love and its rewards generously with friends and family by including them in her travels, visits to art districts, museums, and performances. She was also a patron of the arts in many respects. Leela maintained a home in Wilmington for her family even when she was away. She sought to make them comfortable and encouraged them to aspire, dream, and achieve to their highest potential in the careers and relationships they chose. She tirelessly worked to make the many homes she created welcoming, not least by her own culinary skills. She was an extraordinary chef and could whip up a multiple course gourmet meal equipped with only the kitchen offered by a tiny Manhattan studio apartment, often while dressed in her finest silk saris. She loved to entertain on a grand scale and always ensured everyone left with enough food for days to come. She was a master organizer long before it became a trend and meticulously designed her home from the construction phase to its most intricate decorative details. She leaves behind her husband Dr. Martin Hart, sisters Kamala Prasad and Bala Sivaramakrishnan, brother-in-law Shivi Sivaramakrishnan, and nieces Ameya Krishnan and Brinda Sivaramakrishnan, and a great many others who appreciated her charm, expertise, and generosity at various points in their lives. A visitation will be held on Sunday, January 19, 2020 from 2pm to 3pm at Chandler Funeral Home, 7230 Lancaster Pike, Hockessin, DE followed by a Traditional Hindu Funeral Ceremony begins at 3pm. Interment will be private. For online condolences, please visit: chandlerfuneralhome.com