Luc Chaltin, 85, homeopathic doctor

When Dr. Luc Chaltin went on a cruise, he packed his own food to take with him.

Then while everyone else chowed down at the buffet, he’d snack on his favorite treat — an organic rice cake smeared with almond butter.

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Newton Laboratories

Dr. Luc Chaltin maintained a commitment to his health and the well-being of others.

The Belgian-born homeopathic practitioner ate nothing but the purest foods — mostly fruits and vegetables washed down with well water — because he maintained an unwavering commitment to his own health and the healthy well-being of others.

He plucked ears of corn from his organic garden, shared strawberries with anyone who’d take them and grew lettuce so sweet that it didn’t need dressing.

“Not a morsel touched his lips that wasn’t organic,” said friend and business partner Marge Roberts of Decatur. “He wanted to get across the dangers of toxins because your liver is so compromised by all the toxins it has to deal with.”

Dr. Chaltin, 85, of Decatur died Dec. 28 at Rockdale Medical Center of complications from a fall. The body was cremated.

A memorial service will be held later. Metro Embalming and Crematory is in charge of arrangements.

In the 1960s, Dr. Chaltin was ill with tuberculosis when he devised his own homeopathic treatment for the disease. Within six months, he said, all evidence of TB was gone.

His recovery set the former engineer on a rigorous course of study that included a doctoral degree from the British Institute of Homeopathy.

He traveled throughout Europe and the United States treating diseases, then settled in Conyers and founded Newton Laboratories Inc., a manufacturer of homeopathic medicines, in 1987 when he was 64.

He lectured at Sevananda Natural Foods Market, Rainbow Grocery and other health food stores around Atlanta and sold his tinctures, ointments and other remedies at national trade shows.

“Every time I’d go to a trade show with him, it never failed that someone would stop by and say how one of his products helped them get pregnant, or cured their arthritis, or whatever it was,” said Ms. Roberts, who became president of Newton Laboratories when Dr. Chaltin retired in 2004.

The native Dutch speaker pushed himself to learn French, German and English but was such an intuitive health practitioner that language hardly mattered, Ms. Roberts said, “because he could just take someone’s pulse and look at them” and know how to proceed.

He read incessantly, maintained a massive library of homeopathy books in multiple languages and drove to the Conyers library every week to check out a new stack of books.

His patience never ran out with those who could barely pay for treatments. It ran out quickly, though, with those who thought they could smoke and drink and then just pop a pill for good health.

“He could be cantankerous and get upset with people who didn’t want to eat organic because he so much believed that if you really want to get healthy, you have to stop putting chemicals in your body,” Ms. Roberts said.

Two or three times a day no matter the weather, he’d hike through the woods near his Decatur home, determined to serve as a dynamic object lesson for everything he preached.

“When people wouldn’t embrace the whole lifestyle,” Ms. Roberts said, “that’s when he’d get frustrated.”

Survivors include nine children, all of Belgium: sons Luc Chaltin Jr. of Keerbergen and Walter Chaltin of Waasmont; and daughters Frieda Chaltin of Zandhoven, Elza Chaltin of Straimont, Christine Chaltin of Bonheiden, Godelieve Chaltin and Lutgarde Chaltin of Wilrijk, Veerle Chaltin of Antwerp, and Joanna Chaltin of Wommelgem.