In memoriam: Dr. Angel K. Markov

Published on Monday, January 6, 2020

Dr. Angel K. Markov, a longtime University of Mississippi Medical Center cardiologist and researcher, died Jan. 4 at the institution he served for 45 years before retiring as professor emeritus.

Services are 11 a.m. Jan. 8 at Parkway Funeral Home, 1161 Highland Colony Parkway in Ridgeland. Visitation is Jan. 7 from 5-7 p.m. and at 10 a.m. Jan. 8 at the funeral home.

A native of Bulgaria, Markov escaped to the United States in 1958 in the wake of the post-World War II communist regime. He lived briefly as a refugee in Greece before relocating to New York City and receiving political asylum. His obituary describes a determined young man who learned English in three months by going to the movies and earned a living driving a taxi and washing dishes.

He parlayed his electrical engineering degree from Bulgaria into a job at a medical laboratory in New Jersey, where he met his future mentors, the late UMMC professors Dr. Patrick Lehan and Dr. Harper Hellems.  Markov went on to obtain a medical degree in Belgium, and he and his wife moved to Jackson in 1972 so that he could join his mentors at UMMC.

Markov specialized in cardiology, served as a mentor to many students, and had a passion for medical research. He received numerous research grants from organizations including the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association, and he earned nine U.S. patents.

Survivors include his wife, Françoise; a son, Kroum; daughters Muriel, Alexandra and Tatiana; grandchildren Nicholas, Adrian, Augustus, Maxwell, Victoria, Elena and Elvis; and his faithful dog, Lena.