Dr. Leopold Weiss

Houdini's youngest brother, Leopold David Weiss, was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, on September 3 in either 1877 or 1879 (there's evidence for both). Leo, or "Doc," as the family called him, established himself as New York's first radiologist, setting up practice in Houdini's home in Harlem. He later moved his practice and bought a large estate in Connecticut.

In 1917, Houdini and Leopold had a falling out when Leo married Sady Glantz, the Hungarian ex-wife of another Weiss brother, Nathan. The precise details of the family drama are not entirely known, but Houdini's displeasure took many forms, including cutting Leo's head out of family portraits and forbidding his burial in the Weiss family plot. Even after death, Houdini struck. His Will stipulated that Leo would receive nothing if he was still married to the dreaded Sady, which was the case in 1926.

Leo and Sady divorced in 1932. Leo retired from his lucrative practice in 1949 due to increasing blindness (some say it was caused by repeated X-ray exposure). His fortune declined, and on October 6, 1962, he committed suicide by leaping from the roof of his apartment building in Inwood.

Leo left all his worldly goods to his long-time former nurse, Marguerite Elliott. But Marguerite's husband forbade her from accepting, so all that was left of the last living Weiss sibling was thrown out.

Even though Houdini had excommunicated him, Leopold was buried in the family plot in Machpelah cemetery.

The doctor, the nurse, and the Bible of Ehrich Weiss

Here are the missing headstones for Gladys and Leopold Weiss

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