Dr. Totmes Tewfik Reskallah

Dr. Totmes Tewfik Reskallah, 99, passed away on July 25, 2025, in Fairfax, Virginia. Totmes was born in Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt, to Tewfik Reskallah and Nazly Basily on February 14, 1926. He attended Cairo University Medical School, where he competed at a championship level in crew as a sculler. He graduated from medical school in 1950. He married Leila Habib in 1954 in Cairo. In 1955 he and Leila, along with their infant son, Michael, moved to Ajloun, Jordan, where Totmes served as a physician with the Baptist Hospital.

He immigrated to the United States with his family in 1957 and lived in Texas where he worked at the MD Anderson Cancer Institute. The family then moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Totmes completed an OBGYN Residency and where their daughter, Karen was born. In 1961, he took the family to Cambodia. When the family arrived in Phnom Penh, they embarked on a twelve-hour journey by riverboat up the Mekong River to their new home, Kratie, a provincial capital, where Totmes served as a physician in a hospital run by a NGO called Medico which had been established by U.S. Navy veteran Dr. Tom Dooley. In 1963, the family returned to the U.S. settling in Shelton, Connecticut, where Totmes worked at the Laurel Heights Hospital. In 1964 the family settled in Syracuse, New York, where Totmes established a private practice and served on the staff of Syracuse General Hospital, Community General Hospital, and St. Joseph Hospital.

After 20 years, the family moved to Colonial Heights, Virginia, where Totmes began service in the Army Medical Corps, as a Lieutenant Colonel, at Ft. Lee, Virginia. Totmes went on to serve at Ft. Gordon, Georgia, as a physician from 1982-1988 and was awarded an Army Service Ribbon and Certificate of Military Service for honorable service.

He was a faithful Christian and member of the International Friendship Evangelism Church in Syracuse and Grace Gospel Chapel in Richmond for many years. Totmes and his wife hosted home Bible Studies for friends and neighbors in Skaneateles, where they spent their summers and later in Colonial Heights. Totmes and Leila also served together on a medical mission trip to Hungary.

Totmes was preceded in death by his wife, Leila Habib Reskallah. Totmes is survived by his son, Michael (married to Lydia); his daughter, Karen; and his granddaughters, Chloe (married to Tim), Giselle (married to Nathaniel), Jennifer, and Susanna.

Funeral services will be held at 12 p.m., on Thursday, July 31, 2025, at the National Funeral Home, 7482 Lee Hwy, Falls Church, VA 22042. The funeral will be live streamed on Facebook. There will be a second service the following day on Friday, August 1, 2025, at 1 p.m., at the Chester Chapel of J.T. Morriss & Son Funeral Home, 3050 W. Hundred Road, Chester, VA 23831. Interment will follow at Merchants Hope Memorial Gardens, 11302 Merchants Hope Road, N. Prince George, VA 23860.

"I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing." 2 Timothy 4:7-8