Dr. Richard Caleel
Dr. Richard Caleel
Dr. Caleel is an Iconic personality in the International world of Polo.
Dr. Caleel has been President of F.I.P ( Federation of International Polo) from 2012 to 2014, and has served in many different capacities for the Federation of International Polo.
Mr. Caleel has played polo with some of the greatest International polo players, including Prince Charles and Adolfo Cambiaso. He was Awarded as Best Player of The Year by Prince Charles.
Dr. Caleel was born in Detroit, MI. He attended Wayne State University in Detroit before becoming an orderly at Grace Hospital and moved from there to the Detroit Osteopathic Hospital and worked in their lab. After three years of pre-med, he was accepted to the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine at age 20. He met his lovely wife, Annette, at a car show where she was working as a model. The couple has been married for 60 years and have two sons and two daughters.
In 1969, he and a group of surgeons started Surgical Associates. After that venture, he went into plastic surgery. He then, along with several other cosmetic surgeons, started the Academy of Cosmetic Surgeons and eventually became their president. A high point in his life was at age 33 when he joined American Doctors for Overseas Services because he loved the feeling of being useful to the disadvantaged. He served in Kenya, Africa, India, and Papua, New Guinea. In recognition of his overseas service, Dr. Caleel also holds the esteemed honor of being a Knight of the Sovereign Military Hospitallier Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, and Malta as well as a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre by Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Francis George. He was eventually named consultant to the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare by Presidential Appointment.
Currently, Dr. Caleel is a Partner with BCI Properties and a Trustee of the Dr. Richard T. Caleel and Annette Caleel Foundation. He has served as Trustee, Vice President, and Secretary of the Lucille and Victor Wertz Charitable Foundation. He has served on the Board of Directors for Harrow Sports, the Santa Barbara Center for the Performing Arts, and the White Ash Polo Club. He has been President of the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery, the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery, and the American Society of Liposuction Surgery.
Dr. Caleel is the author of Surgeon!: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Doctor, and First Generationabout first generation children in the United States of an immigrant family.