Dr. Anne Louise Hendricks, a well-known general practitioner and daughter of Dr. Elliot Hendricks, who was one of Broward County’s first radiologists and helped develop the Fort Lauderdale island that bears the family name, died on Friday at Holy Cross Hospital.

Dr. Hendricks, of Fort Lauderdale, died after a bout with renal failure. She was 79.

She moved with her parents to Fort Lauderdale from Columbus, Ohio, at age 4. In 1936 “Dr. Anne,” as she was later known to her patients, graduated from Fort Lauderdale High School as one of the top five students in her class. She went on to Wellesley College, graduating with honors in 1940.

She studied medicine at the University of Cincinnati and was one of only two women in her graduating medical class, her family said.

After Dr. Hendricks began her practice in Fort Lauderdale in 1945, she quickly developed a reputation for compassion. Her children said she never pushed needy patients to pay if they could not afford it.

Her patients repaid her with thank you’s and gifts such as rocking chairs and a TV set, they said.

“She was very, very maternal,” said her son John Summers. “All of my friends considered her their mother. Everybody loved her.”

Besides her own practice, Dr. Hendricks served on staff at hospitals such as Plantation General Hospital, Broward General Medical Center and Holy Cross Hospital. When treating patients, she often made house calls, and did so right up until she retired in 1988.

In 1986 the U.S Drug Enforcement Administration revoked her certification to write prescriptions for controlled substances. That action came after Florida authorities in 1984 fined her and put her on five years probation for over-prescribing pain-killing drugs to three patients.

Dr. Hendricks is predeceased by her son Elliot, who had been the medical director for Pratt & Whitney in Palm Beach County.

In addition to John Summers, of Birmingham, Ala., she is survived by two sons, Richard Anthony McCurdy, of Aspen, Colo.; Charles Summers, of Fort Lauderdale; five daughters, Betsy McCurdy Ryan, of Ashburn, Va.; Della McCurdy, of Fort Lauderdale; Mary Baller, of Ocala, Fla.; Judy Summers, of Fort Lauderdale; Carol Summers, of New York City; nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Visitation will be today from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. at Fairchild Funeral Home, 299 N. Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale. The funeral is 11 a.m. Monday at St. Anthony’s Church, 901 NE Second St. in Fort Lauderdale.

Staff researcher John Maines contributed to this report.