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Health care champion for poor remembered Medical College of South Carolina graduate Herbert Keyserling, 84, a retired doctor and champion of health care for the poor, died June 19. He was at the Golden Grad Ceremony, held during the MUSC Commencement. Dr. Keyserling was born in New York City, a son of William Keyserling and Jennie Hyman Keyserling. He was also a graduate of the College of Charleston. A veteran of the Naval Medical Corps, First Medical Battalion, First Marine Division, and the Third Marine Division, First Battalion, Dr. Keyserling served in the invasion of Guadalcanal, Aug. 7, 1942, as a combat surgeon. He saw combat throughout the Solomon Islands and New Britain. He was awarded the Silver Star. “He was a wonderful guy and a true humanitarian,” said friend and colleague Grady Hendrix, M.D., MUSC professor of medicine.  “When we first started going to the Beaufort Outreach Clinic in 1986, marginal income patients started showing up with little paper pill boxes with medications in them. Dr. Keyserling sold them for 50 cents a box per 100 tablets out of his office to individuals who could not afford to pay pharmacy prices. He felt it was important that they not be given to them, but that the patient pay 50 cents to give them a sense of affording it themselves.” Hendrix said that among his most memorable experiences were the times he and Dr. Kerserling would visit the Parris Island Marine Museum after finishing a day at the Outreach Clinic in Beaufort. Dr. Keyserling was former chief of staff at Beaufort Memorial Hospital and was secretary of Lowcountry Medical Association. He served on the Penn Center Board. He was a member of the TB Association, the Advisory Group to the Lowcountry Council on Health and the Beaufort Rotary Club. He was a member of B’nai B’rith and Beth Israel Synagogue. Surviving are his wife, former state Rep. Harriett Hirschfield Keyserling; two daughters, Judy Keyserling of Washington, D.C., and Beth Kramer of Charleston; two sons, Billy Keyserling and Paul Keyserling, both of Beaufort; and two grandchildren.