Dr. Fred Greiner Sr., 74, had affection for Costa Rica

By Rick Badie

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Dr. Fred Greiner formed a deep attachment to Costa Rica when he attended a medical conference in the Central America country. In the early 1980s, he started breeding Andalusian horses, Spanish purebreds, there.

The retired Atlanta psychiatrist also became interested in farming and cattle breeding. He bred a Brahman cow with an Angus to produce a line that could withstand the region's hot weather. He was the CEO of a Costa Rican corporation that owned four farms and nearly 2,100 head of cattle in the country.

"He was the eternal student and was always studying something," said Loray Greiner, a son in Bangkok, Thailand. "He managed to refine the genetics of cattle and grasses and processes that greatly improved the production, health and quality of the farms tremendously."

Four years ago, Dr. Fred Loranton Greiner Sr. was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder. He was prepared to receive a donated organ from Gaylyn Turpin Greiner, his second wife of 11 years, but died April 10 at Indian River Medical Center in Vero Beach, Fla., near his home on North Hutchinson Island, Fla. He was 74. A memorial will be held at a later date.

Dr. Greiner graduated from Riverside Military Academy and earned a medical degree from Emory University. He served three years as an Air Force flight surgeon stationed in Bitburg, Germany. He already spoke the language because his parents had come from Germany to the U.S.

After completing his military service, he returned to Atlanta and opened two private psychiatry practices that he operated for decades. He was the 1978 president of the Georgia Psychiatric Association. 

"He had a great appreciation for helping people," said Kathryn Chartrand Greiner Koth, a daughter of Peachtree City. "A lot of people who go into medicine are like that, and that's the way he was."

In the 1970s, the psychiatrist worked with developers to build apartment complexes, condominiums and retail shopping centers in metro Atlanta and parts of Florida. A savvy investor, he helped expand the Greiner Family Foundation Inc., a charity that supports causes such as operations to remove cleft lips and palates.

In recent years, Dr. Greiner split time between Costa Rica, Florida and Switzerland. His first wife of 26 years, Edna Janelle Nelson Greiner, died two years ago.

Loray Greiner plans to oversee the cattle ranches and farms in Costa Rica.

"I have a lot of learning to do," he said. "Thankfully, he left me a library with plenty of manuals and books."

Additional survivors include another son, KaiVan Nelson Greiner of  Birmingham, Ala.;  stepdaughters Christi Howell of  Helena and Lucinda Cantrell of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; brother Albert Greiner of Seattle, and eight grandchildren.