In Memorium: Dr. Renato T. Africa (1934-2015)

Sorely missed will be our beloved Rene Africa who passed away May 2, 2015. He graduated from the University of the Philippines College of Dentistry in 1958 and obtained his postgraduate orthodontic training at the Joseph Samuel Dental Center in Rhode Island from 1967-1971. Recently he was the Luz C. Macapanpan Awardee.

From the APO Smile:

Service, teaching and research…these aptly describe the contribution of Luc C. Macapanpan to the profession of Orthodontics in the Philippines. It was through her efforts that the Association of Philippine Orthodontists came to be. To keep her memory and her spirit of pushing APO to its limits in excellence, alive and relevant today, the Luc C. Macapanpan Memorial Award was conceived with Dr. Ermelinda S. Galang as its Chair. Its first recipient was Dr. Roberto B. Tan, himself a preceptee of the great legend. September 30, 2014 marked the awarding of our second recipient, Dr. Renato T. Africa.

The following is an excerpt of that day – September 30, 2014.

“Today is indeed a happy occasion…it is after all, an affirmation of the love and respect we, the APO Family have for our colleague and dear friend Dr. Rene Africa. We take this opportunity to bestow upon Rene, the prestigious LCM Memorial Award, as the committee strongly believes it rightfully belongs to him.

In October 4, 2003, we lost our great Mentor, Luz C. Macapanpan, but her legacy and her contribution to Philippine Orthodontics continues to live on, in the APO. Rene upon the invitation and encouragement of Dr. Macapanpan in the early 70s sacrificed a lucrative orthodontic practice in Guam, to settle down in Manila and help with the organization of what was then the Philippine Orthodontic Study Club. This evolved into what we now have as the APO, which together with the PBO was formally inaugurated at the Manila Hotel on September 3, 1980.

Although Rene served as our APO President in 1988-1990 and Chair of the PBO in 1985, it was his selfless dedication to the organization that left us impressed. It was Rene who designed both the APO and PBO logos so beautifully. It was Rene who carefully helped with the Constitution and By-Laws and later on with the instigation of Dr. Angel Cabral, helped in its revision to make it more relevant to “international standards”.

But the main quality that set Rene aside is that he was readily available whenever we needed him. And he did his assignments with so much passion, that his love for the specialty of Orthodontics, and the APO as a credible association, was palpable. He was in charge of the Judicial/Ethics Committee always making sure we were on the right path.