Leonard Andrew Brennan, Jr. MD

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Leonard Andrew Brennan, Jr. MD

1937 ~ 2023

Leonard Andrew (“Drew”) Brennan, Jr. MD moved on from this life to do more important work after losing a battle with congestive heart failure on August 2, 2023. Drew was married to his college sweetheart, Barbara Bittorf Brennan for 62 years. Drew was father to four children: Mary Sheehan, Ann Brennan, Leonard A. Brennan III (“Drew”), and Megan Wedl. Drew delighted in the achievements and journeys of his eight grandchildren and six great grandchildren. Drew leaves behind his sister Eden Lysaught (Valparaiso, Ind.) but joins his brother John Scott Brennan (1931-2011) in the afterlife. Drew also leaves behind the beloved relationships he developed with cousins in Salt Lake City and Portland.

Drew was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1937 to Leonard A. Brennan (Salt Lake City,) and Evelyn Scott Brennan (Halifax, Nova Scotia). Confined to bed for two years as a child with scarlet fever, Drew later attended Judge Memorial Catholic High School. He played offensive end on the high school football team; later, Drew played collegiate tennis and threw the javelin. He was among the first to ride Brighton Ski Resort’s Mount Millicent ski lift, as his father and uncles helped to build the resort’s first chairlift. The New York Times wrote a feature article about the life his family lived in those years based seasonally out of the Austrian-styled A-frame at the base of the mountain.

In his junior year of high school Drew moved to Lake Oswego, Oregon with his parents and his sister. Ultimately, Drew would graduate from Campion High School, a private boarding school in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Inspired as a teen by the dreams of his mother, Drew’s pursuit of a career in medicine began in high school. As an undergraduate at Wabash College (Indiana), he was introduced at a dance to Barbie Bittorf, a student at nearby St. Mary’s of the Woods. Two years her senior, he courted Barb while studying medicine at St. Louis University. Barb and Drew married in 1961 and had three children. Shortly after completing his residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Drew was drafted into the United States Army. Drew served in Vietnam as a medic for one year, earning the Bronze Star for heroism while stationed in Chu Lai.

A Catholic funeral service will take place Friday, August 11 at Saint John the Baptist Church, Atlantic Beach, Florida.

Please consider making a memorial-contribution on Drew’s behalf to the American Alzheimer Foundation at https://act.alz.org