Obituary of Dr. James L Sweatt III

James L. Sweatt, III, M.D. - Obituary

After a lifetime of firsts, James Leonard Sweatt III, M.D., entered eternal rest after enduring the final stage of Alzheimer’s disease on July 23, 2024.

Born in Ft. Worth, Texas on July 13, 1937,  Dr. Sweatt was the only son of Galveston high school principal James L. Sweatt, II and Dallas school teacher Jewell Juanita Burnett Sweatt.  During his early school years, his uncle, Heman Sweatt, integrated the University of Texas Law School with the historic 1950 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Sweatt v. Painter.

At Lincoln High School, Dr. Sweatt finished as Salutatorian of his 1954 class and was also the football team quarterback.  He then won a scholarship to Middlebury College in Vermont where he graduated in 1958 with a degree in Chemistry. 

On his way home to escort his future wife to her Cotillion Idlewild Debutante Ball in Dallas, Dr. Sweatt had a rigorous interview at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1958, Sweatt became the only black student in his class and, later, the first black to graduate in 1962. 

On June 16, 1962, Dr. Sweatt married fellow Dallasite Mary Lois Hudson, his debutante, and then immediately began a medical internship at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. Mary Lois held a BA in Music and MA in Dance from Mills College in Oakland, California and would later open the Mary Lois School of Dance in Dallas in 1971. As they moved around the country, Dr. Sweatt and his wife were blessed with four children: James IV, William, Alisa Lois and Mary Elizabeth. 

Beginning in 1963, Dr. Sweatt fulfilled two years of required military service as a flight surgeon in the US Air Force at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. The following four years in Denver, Colorado were spent at University of Colorado Medical Center in general surgery residency. Lastly, upon his return to Dallas, Dr. Sweatt specialized in thoracic surgery at UT Southwestern and Parkland Memorial Hospital. 

Opening his practice in Dallas and early in his career, Dr. Sweatt was appointed to the board of directors of Parkland Hospital in 1975---the first black and one of the first physicians to serve on the county hospital’s governing body. He served a term as president of the CV Roman Society for black physicians.  In 1995, the Dallas County Medical Society (DCMS) installed Dr. Sweatt as the first black president.  Prior to this milestone, he had a record of 20 years of service on DCMS committees, including chairing the Board of Censors and serving on the Board of Directors and the Texas Medical Association (TMA) delegation.  Dr. Sweatt was a member of the Texas Political Action Committee (TEXPAC) Board of Directors, American College of Surgeons, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, American Medical Association, National Medical Association.

In 2000, Dr. Sweatt was appointed to the Texas State University Board of Regents by then Gov. George W. Bush. In 2003, Dr. Sweatt retired from full time medical practice, but later started medical consulting with the US Social Security Administration and the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

In the community, Dr. Sweatt was president of T.L. Marsalis Elementary School PTA, an elder and chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee at St. Luke Presbyterian church, a board member of the Grace Presbyterian Village in Oak Cliff, an active member of Sigma Pi Phi Boule fraternity, Cotillion Idlewild, and other organizations and boards.

Dr. Sweatt was preceded in death by his wife, the late Mary Lois Hudson Sweatt.  He is survived by his four children and their spouses, 14 grandchildren and one granddaughter-in-law, one great granddaughter, and a host of other relatives and friends. 

In lieu of flowers, the family asks you to consider a charitable, tax deductible donation to the Mary Lois School of Dance. To make a donation visit the link below. 

https://moorephilanthropy.com/mary-lois-school-of-dance/