Shepherd Center Co-Founder David Apple, M.D., Passes Away

David Apple, M.D., 89, died on March 23, 2026, in Atlanta, surrounded by loved ones. 

“Walk or roll through our halls, and you’ll feel Dr. Apple’s presence everywhere: in our culture of compassion, in the courage of our patients, and in the dedication of every team member,” said Jamie Shepherd, MBA, MHA, FACHE, president and CEO of Shepherd Center. “Over more than 50 years of service, Dr. Apple changed the world of rehabilitative medicine — and he did it with heart, humor, and an unshakable belief in what is possible.” 

Shepherd Center was founded in 1975 after James Shepherd sustained a paralyzing spinal cord injury. As James recovered at Piedmont Hospital and a rehabilitation hospital in Colorado, family discussions began about the need to provide world-class rehabilitation closer to home, and a plan took shape. James and his parents, Harold and Alana Shepherd, began raising money and building a team. 

First on the to-do list was finding a medical director. The Shepherds immediately approached Dr. Apple, a West Virginia native who was raised in Kentucky. While in medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, he had an internship at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. In the region’s foremost trauma center, he saw the results of devastating falls, car crashes, gunshot wounds, pedestrian accidents, and other serious incidents.  

After serving in the United States Air Force for two years – the last as chief of surgery – he became an orthopedic resident at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in late 1969. He completed two fellowships, one in orthopedic rehabilitation at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in California and another in hand surgery in Louisville, Kentucky.  

By chance, in 1973, Dr. Apple was affiliated with Piedmont Hospital while James Shepherd was receiving care there. While he was only peripherally involved in James’ care, he formed a bond with the family. When the Shepherds approached him about joining their effort, a colleague warned him that pursuing the Shepherd Center dream would ruin his career. Despite the warning, Dr. Apple was eager to help make that dream a reality. Not only did it not ruin his career, it restored the lives of thousands of people who came to Shepherd Center. 

The stories of Dr. Apple’s impact run deep in Shepherd Center lore. For example, in 1975, Dr. Apple asked friends to donate to the hospital if he completed the Peachtree Road Race. He did finish the race, and a friend named George Johnson gave him a $100 check, the first donation from anyone not involved in the hospital’s founding. That was the first of many Peachtree Road Race events Dr. Apple would participate in, first as a runner and then a proud spectator from the top of Hope Hill. 

And when Dr. Apple saw the difference that recreation therapy could make in patients’ lives, he felt so passionately about it that he paid Shepherd Center’s first recreation therapist’s salary out of his own pocket for a full year. From that initial gift grew the country’s largest recreation therapy program, one that has created — and will continue to create — opportunities for patients to rediscover their passions and purpose after injury or illness.  

“That's one of Dr. Apple’s great legacies for Shepherd, is his understanding and vision for rec therapy, and how it was such a critical component of our patient care,” said Sara Chapman, longtime Shepherd supporter and Board of Directors’ corporate secretary. 

He also wasn’t afraid to go big to deliver a message. He once flew around the state in a helicopter as the honorary chair of the Georgia Seatbelt Coalition to inform audiences of the consequences of not wearing a seatbelt. Dr. Apple flew in a helicopter on another occasion, going to emergency rooms to demonstrate it was safe to transfer patients with spinal cord injuries by air.  

From 1975 to 2006, Dr. Apple served as Shepherd Center’s chief medical officer, growing the hospital from six beds to 152. With his leadership, Shepherd’s patients were able to return home, to their families, to their careers, and to the things they love.  

“Dr. Apple never asserted that he was the doctor,” said Jill Koval, Ph.D., ABPP-Rp, rehabilitation psychologist and psychology supervisor who has worked at Shepherd for 36 years. “He was always just someone who would roll up his sleeves with everybody else. And one of the most important things that he taught me as a leader was the importance of really listening, and respecting different opinions, but also thinking about the patients that we serve as whole people.” 

Though his impact on patients and families is clear, he also made his mark on the field of rehabilitation, co-founding the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) and the Orthopedic Rehabilitation Association. He helped launch a leading orthopedic journal and mentored generations of clinicians and scientists. Dr. Apple served as president of the Atlanta Clinical Society, the Atlanta Orthopedic Society, and the Georgia Orthopedic Society, receiving the F. J. Funk Award for outstanding service to the Society in 2017. He also served as president of the Society of National Basketball Association Physicians.  

He received numerous other awards, including the Humanitarian of the Year from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, the Distinguished Service Award from the Georgia Hospital Association, the Aven Citizenship Cup, Turner Broadcasting Super Citizens Award, and the American Spinal Injury Association Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Apple was also a member of the Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame.  

Even after stepping down from formal leadership, he continued to pour his time, talent, and passion into research, advocacy, and supporting Shepherd Center patients and staff, and ensuring that Shepherd Center was poised for growth for generations to come. 

Before his tenure at Shepherd Center, Dr. Apple graduated from Highlands High School in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, in 1954 as valedictorian, president of the class, and an outstanding athlete with varsity letters in basketball, football, and track. Next, he attended the University of Virginia as a Dupont Honor Scholar. While there, he ran as a protest candidate and became student body president. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in biology before entering the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1958 as a Noble Scholar.  

At the core of Dr. Apple’s heart was his love for Jane, his wife, and his four amazing children and their families. He enjoyed spending as much time as possible with his family, always celebrating each birthday with dinner at a favorite restaurant and attending his children’s and grandchildren’s sporting events. That love of family also extended to his Shepherd family. 

“We talk a lot here … about culture and what that means,” said Cheryl Linden, MA, LPC, MS, OT/L, who has worked at Shepherd for 30 years. “And Dr. Apple portrayed that in such a way because he lived the culture. And it wasn't just about patient care and family care. The culture was about care of all. Care of community. Care of each other.”  

Learn more about Dr. Apple's extraordinary life and leave a memory.