Dr. Ralph George Newton, Jr., was part of a legacy of family physicians, including his father, grandfather, brother, son-in-law, grandson and nephew.
Dr. Newton attended Mercer University and graduated from the Medical College of Georgia. After serving his intern year at Charity Hospital, he served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. Thereafter, he returned to New Orleans to complete his residency in Urology.
In 1955, Dr. Newton entered private practice in Macon. He was on the medical staff at both the Medical Center of Central Georgia and Middle Georgia Hospital. Dr. Newton also served as a founding trustee when Coliseum Park Hospital was built and served as Chairman of its Board. Dr. Newton was active in the Medical Association of Georgia, the American Medical Association, the American College of Surgeons and the American Urological Association. In 1969, he was president of the Bibb County Medical Society. Dr. Newton was also a Clinical Professor of Urology at Mercer University School of Medicine. In 1996, he received the Physician of the Year award by the Medical Society.
Dr. Newton was a charter member of Ingleside Baptist Church where he taught Sunday school and served as Chairman of the Board of Deacons. He served on the Board of Trustees at Mercer University. Dr. Newton was an active Rotarian. In 1975, he was Chairman of the Leighton Ford Reach Out for the city of Macon.
Dr. Newton began his service on the Haggai Institute Board in 1989. Since then, he has consistently held an office, from Chairman of the Board to Secretary of several important committees. He served as Secretary to the Corporation for the past ten years.
Dr. Newton stated that it was “the logic and cost effectiveness of the Haggai Institute ministry” that caused him to become involved. “The H.I. program of training national leaders to evangelize their own country is the most logical and cost effective method of world evangelization. I have worked in Southern Baptist hospitals in Nigeria, Ghana, and Bangalore, India. Many of the most effective people I met were H.I. graduates. I have been privileged to make several trips with Dr. Haggai. These trips involved meeting with many H.I. graduates and observing their ministry firsthand. It works and God has so richly blessed it.”
His hobbies included growing prize-winning roses and dahlias.
He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Harriet Adams Newton; two daughters, Harriet Newton Sams and her husband Kenneth Dorsey Sams, Clark Newton Young and her husband Dr. Edward Hotchkiss Young; and five grandchildren.
