CAIRO — Members of the community are mourning the loss of longtime physician Andrew Dekle.

Dekle, 69, died last week after sustaining a fall at his Mitchell County farm. The Mitchell County coroner said Dekle was riding on a tractor in his pecan orchard when he struck a tree limb and was thrown off the vehicle.

A private service was held for Dekle earlier this week at Macedonia Church Cemetery.

Having operated an office in Cairo since 1981, Dekle was a well-known figure in the community for more than four decades. His sister, Jeri Couch, asked members of the community to remember her brother in their own way.

“Keep it simple. Just as he was,” Couch said. “Listed to a John Denver song. Get outside and enjoy the beauty of South Georgia, gnats and all. But most importantly, do something kind for someone expecting nothing in return.”

Dekle was forced to forfeit his medical license in 1997 after being found guilty of writing more than 120 illegal prescriptions for women who claimed they were given drugs in exchange for performing sexual favors, but he returned to practicing medicine after being released from a four-year stint in federal prison. Prosecutors say they found between 400 and 450 sexually explicit photos of more than one dozen female patients, most of them Dekle’s patients, in his office. While Dekle acknowledged having sex with several of his female patients, he insisted that the acts were not related to the prescriptions.

Born in 1951 to parents Milwood and Frances Porter Dekle, the longtime doctor is survived by his sons Travis and Brian, a grandson and four siblings.