Gadsden physician Riggins, founder of Medical Aesthetic Skin Care, dies at 67
Longtime Gadsden physician Dr. Murray Riggins, owner of Medical Aesthetic Skin Care, died July 1 following a brief illness. He was 67.
Born in Albany, Georgia, Riggins was raised in Cincinnati. After graduating from Walnut Hills High School there in 1973, he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he majored in physics and graduated in 1977 with honors.
He received a medical degree in 1981 from Meharry Medical College, and moved back to Cincinnati, where he worked as medical director of the West End Medical Center and also operated a private practice in family medicine for many years.
Riggins moved to Anniston in 1990 and became the medical director at the federal prison in Talladega, where in 1991 he successfully negotiated during a hostage takeover for the release of his colleagues and won an award for bravery at the National Medical Directors’ Conference.
He married Dr. Rovenia "Ro" Brock-Riggins, Riggins’s wife in 2002, and after opening the MASC in 2010, they relocated to Anniston in 2011 so he could build and operate his practice in Gadsden.
“For the first 10 years of our marriage, he would drive for two hours to the Atlanta airport and get on a plane to D.C. every single week,” Brock-Riggins said.
She said Riggins’s practice “changed a lot of lives,” noting that his work allowed many families to stay together through his medical aesthetic practices.
“He did what he needed to do so that his patients could look and feel good about themselves,” she said.
With a dual residence in Washington, D.C., and Anniston, Riggins continued working at Alabama hospitals in emergency medicine. He also worked at Hormone Health in Birmingham and Restore Clinic in Gadsden, helping substance abusers during their recovery.
Riggins also was an accomplished singer, songwriter and musician, playing piano and bass guitar. He released several records, including “Ultra/Sound” with the IgG band from Meharry Medical College, where he was a founding member. The “Ultra/Sound” album is now a collector’s item in Japan and was re-released on vinyl in 2021. He also released “Dancin’ Prancin” with his brother.
“He was a jokester,” Brock-Riggins said. “If laughter was the best medicine, he was the cure. He brought so much joy and light to every situation.”
Preceded in death by his parents, Murray Riggins, Sr. and Pearline Riggins Singletary, he is survived by his wife; one brother, Michael Jerome Riggins (Margie Hall); his five children, twins Kymberly and Kisha, Nicole, Murray III (Joey) and Matthew; nine grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and uncles, aunts, cousins and other relatives and close friends.
“This has been the most devastating event in my adult life,” Brock-Riggins said. “But it is his legacy that keeps me going. My goal from here on is to live up to that and honor him in everything I do.”
His funeral service is at 11 a.m. Saturday at Greater Thankful Missionary Baptist Church, 3025 W. 14th St. in Anniston. Visitation is at 10 a.m.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Beloved Gadsden doctor Murray Riggins dies at 67
