Alumni

1947
James R. Trimble, a pioneering dermatologic surgeon known as “Papa Jim” by family and friends, died Aug. 12, 2021. He was 98. At Columbia, Dr. Trimble met a nursing student, Margaret Ann Bell, and they married in 1947 during his internship in Portland, Oregon. He returned to Columbia to study dermatology and begin his PhD in mycology. He served in the Army Medical Corps at the Army Chemical Center in Washington, D.C., and the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Colorado during the Korean War. He later taught dermatology at Duke University before moving to Jacksonville, Florida, in 1952. There he established a private practice and served as chief of dermatology at the Methodist Hospital. He taught surgical dermatology at conferences for the American Academy of Dermatology and contributed to two medical textbooks on the subject. He was a founding member of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. His son, Jay, joined his practice in 1982. Dr. Trimble enjoyed running, sailing, boating, and swimming at Jacksonville Beach. He is survived by three children, eight grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.

1949
John Severinghaus, a professor emeritus of anesthesiology at UCSF whose inventions transformed medical practice worldwide, died June 2, 2021. He was 99. During World War II, Dr. Severinghaus contributed to the development of radar at MIT’s Radiation Lab. He served six months with wife Elinor as a medical missionary in Navajo settlements of the Southwest. At the NIH, he invented the first electrode to measure carbon dioxide in the blood, followed by the first blood gas analyzer. His prototype is in the Smithsonian Institution. In 1958 he joined UCSF, where his research included the effects of high altitude on blood gases, with fieldwork in the Andes. Curiosity sometimes led him to act as his own test subject. His research in pulse oximetry would contribute to the accurate measurement of oxygen saturation levels in COVID patients. The American Society of Anesthesiologists created a lecture series in his name. In Marin, California, he joined Physicians Against Nuclear War, campaigned for single-payer health insurance, and was an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation for 50 years. Preceded in death by his wife, he is survived by four children and two grandchildren. 

1951
Mary King, a specialist in GYN surgical pathology, died Feb. 20, 2021. She was 94. After her medical internship, she served as a postdoctoral fellow in biochemistry at the University of Chicago. Soon after, she and her husband, Donald King, pursued fellowships at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. She spent five years in the pharmacology and biochemistry department at Yale University, followed by a tenure as associate clinical professor of pathology at the University of Colorado. She completely immersed herself in outdoor life, including rock hunting, camping, and studying wildflowers. She loved literature. Dr. King later completed a residency in surgical pathology and worked at Rush Medical Center and the University of Illinois. She retired in 1990 in Riverdale, New York. Three children and six grandchildren survive her.

Samuel H. Madell, a World War II veteran and radiologist who pioneered ultrasound technology and excelled in teaching, died June 2, 2021. He was 96. Dr. Madell was an influential force in the Medical Society of the State of New York, the American Medical Association, and the New York Roentgen Society, of which he was a past president. He dedicated his later years to helping doctors navigate an increasingly litigious environment, serving on the Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company board. He was a voracious reader with penchants for meaningful conversation, golf, and the arts. He is survived by his wife, Grace, a sister, five sons, and numerous grandchildren.

William “Bill” Revercomb Jr., an internist who practiced in Charleston, West Virginia, for 41 years, died Feb. 21, 2020. He was 92. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland and served in the U.S. Air Force before completing a fellowship at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. He trained countless medical students and residents at the West Virginia University School of Medicine’s Charleston Division. He also served on the West Virginia Occupational Pneumoconiosis Board for many years and was a longtime member of the Rotary Club of Charleston. He was a quiet, contemplative man who loved gardening, playing bridge, and tennis. He is survived by two sons, a daughter, and three grandsons. 

1952
Jack G. Shiller, a pediatrician once named a “Champion of Immunization” by the governor of Connecticut, died Jan. 13, 2021. He was 92. After training at Bellevue Hospital and Babies Hospital, he established a private practice in Westport, Connecticut. In 1973, he formed Willows Pediatric Group with Dr. Albert Beasley. Dr. Shiller started the neonatal intensive care unit at Norwalk Hospital and later served as interim chief of pediatrics while teaching at Babies Hospital. In 1977, he helped form the Westport-Weston Health District—the first of 20 such districts in the state—and served as its director of public health. He received the Connecticut Veterans Wartime Service Medal for his service in the U.S. Air Force as captain of the 47th tactical hospital stationed at Sculthorpe, England. He was an advocate of equal representation, disease prevention, and education. He was proud of his publication, “Childhood Illness and Childhood Injury: A Commonsense Approach,” which allowed new parents to recognize and treat common childhood ailments at home. He is survived by a brother, three children, and six grandchildren. 

1953
Julie Schoepf Crocker, a Harvard anesthesiologist and the second female president of the New England Society of Anesthesiology, died March 2, 2020. She was 92. She earned her master’s degree in zoology at Columbia before beginning medical school. Her anesthesiology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital was interrupted by the birth of her first son, but she completed training at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. She found a position in the VA Hospital in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, that allowed her to be in the operating room by 7 a.m. and home to meet her children after school. In 1962, she joined the Lahey Clinic. She joined the Boston Hospital for Women’s perinatal anesthesia department and taught at Harvard Medical School a decade later. Her writings focused on headaches associated with spinal anesthesia, wakefulness during anesthesia, and optimal techniques for epidural anesthesia. In 1980, Dr. Crocker and her husband, Augustus Crocker, a cardiologist, gave up their Boston-based medical practices and relocated to Dublin, New Hampshire. In retirement, she volunteered with several garden clubs and assisted in water quality monitoring and erosion prevention at Dublin Lake. She is survived by three sons, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Edwin “Ed” Maynard, a primary care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital for more than 50 years, died March 19, 2021. He was 94. At age 18 he volunteered with the American Field Service and drove an ambulance in the European theater. He was one of the first of the Allies to enter the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. He met his wife, Lisa Simonds, during medical school, while they were both summer volunteers on a medical missionary ship in Labrador, Canada. Dr. Maynard taught medical ethics at Harvard Medical School into his late 80s. He was president of the American College of Physicians from 1989 to 1990. In 1969, Dr. Maynard moved his family to Kampala, Uganda, where he worked in the new residency program at the Makerere University School of Medicine. He loved his church, the Church of the Redeemer, and found great joy in good meals, hiking, skiing, and sailing. He is survived by four children, 10 grandchildren, and a great-grandson. 

Jay Meltzer, longtime Department of Medicine faculty member at VP&S and leader in treating hypertension and kidney disease, died July 3, 2021. He was 93. Born in New York City, Dr. Meltzer completed his internship and residency at Columbia, becoming chief resident before joining the faculty. He attended Columbia’s nephritis-hypertension clinic, the first clinic of its kind in the United States. He also was a leader in classifying kidney diseases produced by lupus erythematosus in a collaboration made possible by using the then-nascent technique of percutaneous kidney biopsy. He led Columbia’s specialized division to treat hypertension and kidney disease and introduced renal dialysis at Columbia. He was known in the New York City medical community as a master clinician. He displayed his landscape paintings at his office on Park Avenue. The university established the Jay I. Meltzer MD Chair in Nephrology & Hypertension in his honor. He is survived by his wife, Pamela, three children, and a stepson. 

1954
William Muir, chair of surgery at Burlington County Memorial Hospital in New Jersey for 25 years, died May 24, 2021. He was 92. He completed his internship and residency at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1970, he began a preceptorship program in surgery that evolved into a four-year program in general surgery affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Muir was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and served as the New Jersey chapter president. Following his retirement in 1994, he served as a surgeon for three years with the Indian Health Service in Shiprock, New Mexico. Moved by the death of a friend who could not get timely medical care in the Long Beach Island area, Dr. Muir and other hospital leaders helped to develop the Southern Ocean County Hospital. He loved sailing, celestial navigation, music, fine arts, and studying world civilizations. He is survived by three sons, three daughters, 11 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. 

John A. Ramsdell, a surgeon and the fourth generation of his family to practice medicine in White Plains, New York, died Feb. 9, 2021. He was 93. After medical school, Dr. Ramsdell served his internship at Bellevue Hospital-First Division (Columbia) in New York City and completed a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He also earned an MS in surgery from the University of Minnesota. He was an attending surgeon at White Plains Hospital and the former St. Agnes Hospital in White Plains and consulted at New York Hospital, Westchester Division, and Burke Rehabilitation Hospital. Dr. Ramsdell was president of the Medical Society of Westchester County and of the Westchester County Board of Health. He also was a member of the American Medical Association, chair of YMCA Central and Northern Westchester, and president of the Rotary Club of White Plains, Sons of the Revolution’s New York chapter, and White Plains Masonic Lodge 473. He attended St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church of White Plains. He is survived by his wife, Barbara, three children, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. His father, Edwin G. Ramsdell, graduated from what is now VP&S in 1908.

Harold “Hal” Stocker, an internist at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland, California, for 28 years, died June 10, 2021. He was 94. The son of a Presbyterian minister, Dr. Stocker enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After medical school, he trained in pathology at the Hospital of Pennsylvania and completed a residency in internal medicine at Stanford. He donated one month of each year to serve on the international hospital ship “Hope.” He was active in local politics as the Yuba County supervisor (Fifth District) for 20 years. His main objective was to preserve the natural beauty of the foothills by discouraging large subdivisions and excessive housing. His favorite pastimes were tennis, gardening, growing fruit trees, and the 49ers. He is survived by his wife, Leah. 

Earl “Doc” Wheaton, an internist-rheumatologist in private practice for 30 years in Ridgewood, New Jersey, died March 23, 2021. He was 92. Lucid throughout his short struggle with cancer, Dr. Wheaton spent his last days at his beloved Valley Hospital, where he had been a member of the leadership team for more than a decade. He was a member of the Valley Hospital board and a recipient of the Distinguished Physician Service Award. After medical school, he became chief resident at Columbia and served in the U.S. Army as a captain. Remembered as a gentle and gracious leader, he volunteered for Valley Hospice and the Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative, which provides free health care to the working uninsured in Bergen County. His wife, Jeanne, five children, 11 grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and four stepsons survive him. 

1955
Alexander Kessler, a co-founder of the Human Reproductive Programme (HRP) at the World Health Organization, died Dec. 30, 2020. He was 89. The HRP is the main instrument within the United Nations system for research in human reproduction and promotes and protects human rights to sexual and reproductive health. Born in Austria, Dr. Kessler and his family arrived in the United States in 1941. After earning his MD, he earned a PhD from Rockefeller University and served in the U.S. Army before being recruited to WHO. In 1966, he led its first Human Reproduction Unit with a mandate to advise member states on family planning. He led a feasibility study in human reproduction that in 1972 became the new Expanded Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction. He helped build a network of regional and clinical research and training centers in low-resource settings, activities that continue today. He was the primary director of HRP through 1983. He thrived on vigorous debate; loved music, theater, and poetry; and was an avid hiker.

Robert “Bob” Frank Roth, a plastic surgeon dedicated to international medical service, died May 14, 2021, at 91. At 16, he recovered from a severe illness and made a vow within his Christian faith to become a doctor. He served as a medical/surgical missionary in post-war South Korea and returned to a residency at UNC Medical Center. Dr. Roth served at Lewis-Gale Hospital, Bradley Free Clinic, and three other local hospitals in Roanoke and Salem, Virginia. In 1964, he helped establish Roanoke and Wonju, South Korea, as “sister cities.” The partnership evolved into Roanoke Valley Sister Cities with the addition of Kisumu, Kenya; Pskov, Russia; Florianopolis, Brazil; Opole, Poland; Lijang, China; and St. Lo, France. Upon retirement in 1995, Dr. Roth created “Peace Pagodas on the Lake” at his home, used as a private retreat center for sister-city guests and others. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Paulene Hadaway, and is survived by his second wife, Dorothy H. Roth, three children, three grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. He donated his body to the Virginia Anatomical Society.

1956
Brig. Gen. Edward Burka died Jan. 9, 2021. He was 90. The child of two Russian immigrants who fled the pogroms, he was passionately patriotic and earned his medical degree while serving as a first lieutenant in the Army Reserve. He later managed the sickle cell anemia clinic and blood bank at Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. As a doctor in the medical corps, he voluntarily entered the Airborne-Special Forces, where he became a master parachutist. In 1958 and 1959, he was a jumpmaster at Wiesbaden Air Force Base in Germany. From 1979 to 1983, he was the U.S. Army’s Deputy to the Surgeon General for Mobilization, responsible for planning logistics for the evacuation of U.S. cities in the event of a nuclear or biological disaster. He was also an avid collector of and expert on U.S. medical military insignia, uniforms, and instruments. Three children and four grandchildren survive him. 

Ralph Richter, a neurologist and Alzheimer’s disease expert who served as assistant dean of Columbia’s medical school under H. Houston Merritt, died May 28, 2021. He was 90. He attended Union Theological Seminary before medical school and completed a residency at the Neurological Institute of New York. A person of deep faith, Dr. Richter felt it essential to help underserved and at-risk patients. He asked Dr. Merritt to assign him to work part time at Harlem Hospital, where he established its neurology department and a federally funded regional stroke program. In 1975, he left Columbia to help establish the medical school at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and he rose to clinical professor in neurology and psychiatry at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. Dr. Richter led research into advanced therapeutic drugs for Alzheimer’s through his company, Tulsa Clinical Research LLC. He practiced neurology in Tulsa until 2019, when he retired to pursue his love of reading history and poetry. He is survived by his wife, Julia Craft Richter, three children, two stepchildren, and two grandchildren.

1957
Edward Danielski Jr., a radiologist at Bassett Hospital and later director of Fox Hospital’s radiology department, died Feb. 14, 2021. He was 90. Dr. Danielski completed his internship and residency at Bellevue Hospital. He later served in the Army as a captain and radiologist at the 57th Field Hospital in Toul, France. He was board certified in radiology, radiation therapy, and nuclear medicine. He and his wife moved to Cooperstown, where he became an associate radiologist at Bassett Hospital. He later established his own radiology department at Fox Hospital in Oneonta. He helped introduce the first arteriograms to the Dominican Republic and the first myelogram to Tunisia under the auspices of CARE-MEDICO. Dr. Danielski was a gifted amateur piano and harpsichord player who also loved skiing, sailing, and gardening. He is survived by wife Anne Marie’s two children and five grandchildren. 

Norman Ertel, an endocrinologist, died July 18, 2021. He was 88. He completed a residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a fellowship in steroid biochemistry and endocrinology at Cornell University. As a captain in the U.S. Air Force, he served at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C. He served as chief of medicine at the VA Hospital. Passionate about teaching, Dr. Ertel also taught at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He was married to Barbara “Bobbi” Schuster for 52 years before her death in 2019. He loved classical music, traveling, research, reading newspapers, and spending time with his family. Three children and four grandchildren survive him. 

Charles Faverio of Hopewell Junction, New York, died March 22, 2020, at the age of 87.

Martin Nydick, a clinical endocrinologist with a sub-specialty in bone metabolism, died June 28, 2021. He was 88. Early in his career, he collaborated on research projects in adolescent endocrinology. After serving as a senior assistant surgeon in the U.S. Public Health Service, he spent two years at the University of Washington. He and his brother, Dr. Irwin Nydick, had a private practice affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and the Hospital for Special Surgery for more than 50 years. He taught medicine at Cornell and retired in 2015 but continued mentoring as a doctor emeritus. Dr. Nydick was an avid birder and naturalist who also loved playing tennis and rooted for the New York Mets. He delighted in history, classical music, reading biographies, and conquering the New York Times crossword puzzles. He is survived by three children, four grandchildren, and his brother. He is also survived by his partner of 18 years, Constance Margolin, and her children. 

Elliot Weser, a gastroenterologist and founding faculty member of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, died March 26, 2021. He was 89. He trained in gastroenterology at Cornell, University of Washington in Seattle, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine and spent a year at the NIH. In 1967 he joined the division of gastroenterology as chief at the new medical school in San Antonio. He was also chief of medicine at the Audie Murphy VA Hospital. Following retirement in 2006, Dr. Weser served as president of the boards of Golden Manor Jewish Home for the Aged, the Carver Cultural Center, and Temple Chai, a Reform Jewish congregation he helped found. He cycled with the San Antonio Wheelmen. He was twice elected to the Alamo Heights City Council. As a pilot, he logged more than 4,000 hours flying through Mexico, Canada, and the United States in his 1978 Mooney. His wife, Marcia Goren Weser, his son, two stepdaughters, and three grandchildren survive him. 

1958
Barry Galton, a cardiologist and internist in Wayne, New Jersey, from 1964 to 2011, died May 25, 2021. He was 89. He enjoyed travel, the New York Philharmonic, dinners with friends, and time with family. He was on the board of the YM-YWHA in Wayne and a volunteer physician at the Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative in Hackensack. He is survived by his wife, Ann, two daughters, four grandchildren, and a brother.

Bert S. Horwitz, an orthopedic surgeon remembered for his gentle and caring nature, died March 29, 2020. He was 87. His wife, Felice, three children, eight grandchildren, two stepchildren, and three stepgrandchildren survive him. 

1959
Augustus “Gus” Middleton, a pathologist who joined the Jackson Madison County General Hospital in 1963, died Feb. 7, 2021. He was 90. He spent several years on the board of the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Science. He devoted his career to bringing innovation and state-of-the-art practices to the medical world and west Tennessee. Passionate about family above all else, Dr. Middleton was determined to teach all his children and grandchildren how to water ski and snow ski. He was an adventurer who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro at age 65. While stationed with the U.S. Coast Guard in Charleston, South Carolina, he met his first wife, Ann Huxford, and they were married for 55 years. He helped found the Episcopal Day School in Jackson, Tennessee. He was also a loyal member and volunteer at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, where he taught Sunday School and was a senior warden. In retirement, he volunteered his medical services for several missions in Kenya, Nepal, Madagascar, and St. Lucia. He is survived by his second wife, Beverlye, two daughters, three sons, and eight grandchildren. 

1960
Charles Leach Jr., a cardiologist who co-founded Connecticut’s first cardiac rehabilitation program, died Aug. 10, 2021. He was 86. After medical school, Dr. Leach met his future wife, Joan (Gross), at Bellevue Hospital. He served as a captain in the Army Medical Corps. He later became director of cardiology at New Britain General Hospital and learned Polish to better connect with his patients. He briefly returned to private practice and taught at the University of Connecticut Medical School. He loved to bring his first-year students to the New Britain Museum, where he encouraged them to find the connections among medicine, music, and art. Upon retiring in 2000, he volunteered with local and state historical, environmental, and arts organizations. He dressed as a Colonial doctor at museum events for the Stanley Whitman House. In 2007, he was named the Farmington Land Trust Alliance’s Volunteer of the Year for his advocacy of open space protection. His wife, Joan, a sister, four children, and seven grandchildren survive him. 

Elias Schwartz, a pediatric hematologist and former physician-in-chief of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), died July 17, 2021. He was 85. After medical school, he interned at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx and completed a pediatric residency at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. He served in the U.S. Air Force at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, caring for the children of military personnel. After he trained in hematology at Boston Children’s Hospital, he became a professor of hematology and was on the pediatric staff of Thomas Jefferson University from 1967 to 1972. He headed the hematology division of CHOP before serving as its physician-in-chief. Some sickle cell anemia patients remained in his care for 40 years. He later joined Thomas Jefferson University’s duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington. Dr. Schwartz edited the textbook “Hemoglobinopathies in Children.” Having studied classical piano as a child, he taught courses on jazz and film at Temple University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. He is survived by his wife, Esta Rosenberg, sons, and grandchildren. 

1961
Joseph “Joe” Clevenger Jr., an OB-GYN, died Oct. 1, 2019, from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 84. He completed a residency in Chicago, spent two years in the U.S. Air Force in Missouri, and in 1967 began his OB-GYN practice with Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara, California. He served as chief and assistant chief during a time of dynamic patient growth. Over the next 29 years, he was beloved by patients and colleagues for his likable, down-to-earth style. He loved the outdoors, traveling and learning, and his favorite team, the 49ers. After retirement, he stayed active hiking with retired former colleagues and meeting with the Saratoga Men’s Club. He is survived by his wife, Martha, and three children. 

Arthur Meyerson, a psychiatrist and lifelong New Yorker, died Jan. 27, 2021. He was 84. Dr. Meyerson championed the rights of the chronically mentally ill and supported community mental health programming. He served as a hospital administrator and professor of medicine at several teaching hospitals, including Mount Sinai, New York University, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and the Hahnemann University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, where he served as chair of psychiatry and neurology. He was a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Following the September 2001 World Trade Center attacks, he was the clinical director for disaster psychiatry outreach at ground zero, providing free therapy to first responders, victims, and their families. After retirement, he devoted himself to travel, summering on Shelter Island, reading, writing poetry, and singing with his glee club. He is survived by his wife, Carol A. Bernstein, MD, three children, and two grandsons. 

William Reichel, a family medicine practitioner and a founder of geriatric medicine, died May 14, 2021. He was 83. His early training took place at the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, Mary Fletcher Hospital; Stanford University, as chief resident in internal medicine; and the Unit for Research in Aging at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He was a lieutenant commander and surgeon for the U.S. Public Health Service and an internist and research investigator for the Gerontology Research Center at the NIH. In 1972, he was recruited to establish a family medicine residency at Franklin Square Medical Center, where he chaired operations until 1988. As a board member of the American Geriatrics Society, he led a delegation to the International Congress of Gerontology in the USSR to discuss premature aging. After a deadly illness outbreak in a Baltimore nursing home in 1973, he testified before the Senate Special Committee on Aging. This resulted in requirements that skilled nursing facilities have a medical director. He published “Care of the Elderly: Clinical Aspects of Aging” and edited the text for “The Geriatric Patient.” He was an expert on progeria, premature aging on a rapidly accelerated scale. Dr. Reichel later directed the Department of Geriatrics and Aging Services at the Boston Evening Medical Center and taught at Tufts University and Brown University medical schools. He enjoyed reading and spending time with his family. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Helen, a microbiologist, two children, and five grandchildren.

1962
William “Bill” Duncan III, a vascular surgeon, died Dec. 3, 2019. He was 83. He completed his internship and residency at Harvard and served as lieutenant at sea in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps before settling in Portland in 1971 to begin his practice. He was elected president of the Portland Surgical Society, the Portland Vascular Society, and the professional review organization HealthInsight (formerly Acumentra Health). He taught at Oregon Health Sciences University. Dr. Duncan supported the arts on the boards of the Oregon Symphony and Oregon Opera. He enjoyed tennis and squash, climbed Mount St. Helens both before and after it erupted, and finished the Boston Marathon twice (and completed seven other marathons). In 1990, he bought a cabin in the mountains of central Oregon and loved riding horses. Upon retiring from medicine at age 68, he began racing vintage cars at the Portland International Raceway. He is survived by his partner, Ann, her daughter, two children, and a sister.

Mary Jeanne Kreek, a pioneer in studies of addiction who was a senior attending physician at Rockefeller University, died March 27, 2021. She was 84. Struck with polio at age 11, she danced ballet to overcome the physical consequences and joined the Washington Ballet Company as a teenager. She trained in internal medicine and gastroenterology at Cornell. During a research fellowship at Rockefeller University, she worked with Vincent Dole and Marie Nyswander to develop the use of methadone for opiate addiction. Dr. Kreek created the first laboratory techniques for measuring methadone and similar drugs in blood and tissues, which helped lead to the FDA’s approval of methadone for opiate addiction. She fought against the stigma of addiction and contended that addictions should be seen not as weaknesses or criminal behaviors, but as brain diseases. She identified many of the genes, biological pathways, and atypical responses to stress that act together to increase the probability of addiction not only to opioids but also to cocaine, alcohol, and marijuana. Dr. Kreek and her husband, Robert Schaefer Sr., a gastroenterologist who died in 2018, were lifelong arts patrons. They loved opera, ballet, travel, and fine dining. She adorned her house with cut flowers and live orchids. She is survived by two children and four grandchildren. 

Barry R. Walker, an internist and expert in pharmaceuticals and biotech, died Sept. 27, 2019. He was 83. He completed an internal medicine internship and a residency at Temple University Hospital and a fellowship in renal-electrolyte diseases at the University of Pennsylvania. He served two years in the U.S. Public Health Service hospital in New Orleans as chief medical officer of the emergency room. Returning to Philadelphia in 1968, Dr. Walker served as director of clinical pharmacology at Smith Kline & French. Later, at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, he was senior vice president for worldwide clinical research and development. He taught at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics of the Wharton School of Business. Following retirement, he consulted for a range of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and clinical research companies, startups, and government organizations. He was a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine and co-founder of the American Society of Hypertension. Survivors include his wife, Nancy Lee Weiherer Walker, two children, and four grandchildren. 

1963
Arthur “Sandy” Brown II, a general surgeon at Bronson Medical Center and Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan, for nearly 30 years, died Feb. 12, 2021. He was 83. Dr. Brown—nicknamed Sandy as a child because of his sandy brown hair—completed residencies at Minneapolis General Hospital (now Hennepin County Medical Center) and Henry Ford Hospital in Dearborn, Michigan, before practicing in Kalamazoo. He met his wife, Judith Ann Coburn, at age 10, when they were neighbors. They married shortly after their college graduations and were together until she died in 2005. He was an avid Francophile, having spent two years in the U.S. Army stationed in Chinon, France. He loved to sing, play tennis, and attend University of Michigan football games. He is survived by two children, two grandchildren, and a brother.

1964
Peter Salomon, the head of pathology at El Dorado Hospital in Tucson, Arizona, until his retirement, died July 26, 2021. He was 83. Born and raised as a New Yorker, Dr. Salomon completed his residency in pathology at St. Luke’s Hospital. He and his young family moved to Tucson in 1972 after a two-year stint at Fort Polk Army base in Louisiana. Dr. Salomon was an avid athlete who competed in local Tucson tennis tournaments and won many doubles titles in his younger years. He moved on from tennis to hiking, birding, and fishing. He enjoyed limericks, New York Times crossword puzzles, backgammon, and Trivial Pursuit. He cared deeply about Tucson and supported multiple local charities, primarily in science, the arts and humanities, and underserved communities. His wife, Patricia Carr Morgan, two daughters, a stepdaughter, and a sister survive him. 

1965
Nathaniel “Nat” Reichek, a sharp diagnostician and one of the founding fathers of the field of cardiac MRI, died March 10, 2021. He completed his internship and residency at the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center, served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Public Health Service at the CDC, and completed a cardiology fellowship at Georgetown University Medical Center. He joined the University of Pennsylvania as junior faculty, where he directed its noninvasive laboratories. In 1992, he moved to Allegheny General Hospital as chief of its cardiology division. A decade later, he joined St. Francis Hospital as director of research and education and taught biomedical engineering at SUNY Stony Brook. Dr. Reichek served in various leadership positions at the Society of Cardiovascular Medical Resonance. His long-term collaboration with Leon Axel at Penn is legendary as they published a series of manuscripts regarding the use of myocardial tagging to characterize intramural function. He was a principal investigator in the Women’s Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation study that contributed to understanding chest pain and coronary artery disease in women. 

1966
Henry Fieger Jr., a neurosurgeon, died Aug. 9, 2018. He was 78. Originally from Ohio, he spent a summer during college at Glacier National Park as a “singing waiter,” which led to his great love for the West. He completed his medical internship and residency at the University of Colorado. A U.S. Army Reserve member, he was activated to serve in Vietnam as a general surgeon with the Army’s 1st Battalion. He earned the Bronze Star, Air Medal, National Defense Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and the rank of captain. After the war, he taught at Denver’s University Hospital and was on staff at St. Joseph, Children’s, Denver General, Presbyterian/St. Luke’s, and Lutheran hospitals. He became chief of neurosurgery at St. Joseph and Children’s hospitals. He was also chair of the surgery department and president of the medical staff at St. Joseph Hospital. In 1989, Dr. Fieger became chief of neurosurgery at the Colorado Permanente Medical Group. He was a founding member of the Colorado Neurosurgical Society and a president of the Rocky Mountain Neurosurgical Society. He was married to Jill Hilton for 34 years of marriage until she died in 2015. They shared a love of poetry, books, and travel. 

Edward “Ted” Hard, a longtime emergency room doctor and novelist, died July 16, 2021. He was 81. While completing a surgical residency at Stanford University, he published three short stories in the Saturday Evening Post. He directed the emergency department at Sutter Medical Center Santa Rosa for more than two decades and practiced emergency medicine at Petaluma Valley Hospital. Starting in 2018, he directed emergency services for St. Joseph’s Hospital in Eureka and Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna. He loved photography and wrote “The Hunt for the Blackfoot Lion,” a novel he finished during the pandemic. His other novels include “Oasis” and “SUM VII,” to which Twentieth Century-Fox purchased the film rights. Another novel, “Ishmael,” is being edited for publication. He also wrote articles for the Sonoma County Medical Association. Dr. Hard is survived by his wife, Ellie Galvez-Hard, his sister, five children, and several grandchildren.

1967
Roger Christensen, a gastroenterologist who graduated from medical school alongside his identical twin brother, Thomas Christensen, died April 6, 2021. He was 79. He completed an internal medicine residency in Seattle at the University of Washington and a fellowship in gastroenterology at the VA Medical Center. He proudly served in the U.S. Air Force from 1969 to 1971, serving with his twin brother in the Philippines at the military hospital at Clark Air Base. Following his military service, he was in private practice in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He later joined the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, Texas, where he practiced for 15 years until he retired from medicine in 2000. Dr. Christensen was a marathoner, avid swimmer, and reader. His wife, Katy, twin brother, and two sisters survive him.

Ernst “Ernie” Heilbrunn, an anesthesiologist who retired after 36 years of service at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, New Jersey, died June 23, 2021. He was 86. He was born in Germany but was 4 when his family moved to Washington Heights. He served with the Army National Guard 102B Engineering Battalion 42 Infantry Division. He was a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists and a charter member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Dr. Heilbrunn appreciated food, wine, museums, Broadway shows, and travel. He is survived by his two daughters, six grandchildren, the mother of his children, Sandra Lewis, and his lifelong friend, Robert Florsheim.

Stanley F. Novak, a pediatrician in Rochester, New York, died Feb. 25, 2021. He was 79. After medical school, he served as a major in the U.S. Air Force at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. He completed his residency in pediatrics at the University of Rochester. After many years in private practice, he joined Lifetime Health as pediatric chairman, a position from which he retired in 2007. Dr. Novak saved every card his patients gave him. He loved New York City, particularly its Broadway and off-Broadway theaters. He relished spending time with family and friends on Canandaigua Lake. He is survived by his life partner, Paul Lyons, two children, wife Carol J. Novak, two grandchildren, and a sister.

1969 PhD
Ernest “Ernie” April, retired director of the VP&S clinical anatomy course, died June 6, 2021, at age 81. Dr. April served from 1961 to 1963 as an active duty officer in the U.S. Navy and was discharged from the reserves as a lieutenant in 1971. In his 47 years at Columbia, he trained generations of academic leaders in medicine. The textbook he authored, “Clinical Anatomy,” was the staple text at many academic institutions. His original research, published in Nature, demonstrated that striated muscle is best described as a liquid-crystalline structure. He humanized anatomy teaching and charged his students to respect the gifted body both as a teacher and as their first patient. In that spirit, he established the first anatomy memorial service in the mid-1970s to honor donors’ lives and as closure for the students. Dr. April served as a volunteer firefighter in Rockleigh, New Jersey, where he was captain and fire chief from 1987 to 2002. He was a council member for the Borough of Rockleigh, a member of the planning and zoning boards, commissioner of public safety, chair of the Park Commission, and director of the Office of Emergency Management. He was an avid sailor and skier. He is survived by his wife, Lauren Helm’03, a son, and a granddaughter. 

1970
Barry Massie, a world-renowned expert in heart failure, died Jan. 8, 2021, of COVID-19 after a long battle with dementia. He was 76. Dr. Massie was chief resident at Bellevue Hospital in New York City and completed his cardiology fellowship at UC San Francisco and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Francisco. In 1977, he became a professor of cardiology at UCSF. He researched imaging modalities for the diagnosis and characterization of heart failure, the role of arrhythmias and anticoagulation, and novel pharmacologic treatments. He played a leadership role in many NIH-sponsored clinical trials and VA cooperative studies that led to current therapies for heart failure. Before retiring in 2013, he held several positions, including as director of the cardiac care unit and heart failure program at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, chief of cardiology at the San Francisco VA, consultant to the FDA, president of the Heart Failure Association of America, and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Heart Failure. He enjoyed travel, adventure, hiking, playing poker, and cheering on the St. Louis Cardinals. He is survived by two daughters, a grandson, and a brother.

Candace Cooper Walworth, a nephrologist who helped establish outpatient dialysis in central Maine, died unexpectedly on Feb. 17, 2021, after complications during surgery. She was 76. At Columbia, she married her classmate, Edward Z. Walworth’70. Their honeymoon was a two-month medical student rotation at a hospital in Taiwan. Both trained at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Hanover, New Hampshire, and later joined St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center and Central Maine Medical Center. She expanded her practice from internal medicine to nephrology and in 1984 opened the Lewiston-Auburn Kidney Center. The practice grew to Auburn, Wilton, and Augusta, Maine. Dr. Walworth was the first woman medical staff president at St. Mary’s. She retired from clinical practice in 2010. Devoted to the Lewiston-Auburn community, she was a charter board member of the Public Theatre, participated in a women’s book club for nearly 40 years, and supported the Maine Women’s Fund. She was a skilled conversationalist, adventurous cook, and enthusiastic gardener, and she loved Volkswagen convertibles. She is survived by her husband, Ted, two daughters, five grandchildren, and a brother. 

1970 PhD
Robert “Bob” M. Johnson died June 24, 2021, at the age of 83. He was professor emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine, where he served on the faculty from 1972 until retirement in 2014. He volunteered for political campaigns, Amnesty International, and the Sierra Club and served on the Ann Arbor City Council from 2001 to 2007. He loved spending time in nature and was instrumental in establishing Ann Arbor’s greenbelt and creating the Bluffs Nature Area. He is survived by his wife, Margarita Palutke, four children, and three grandchildren.

1971
Jeffrey Barnett, who practiced at the University of Connecticut Health Center from 1978 until his retirement, died May 22, 2021, of brain cancer. He was 75. During medical school, he met his wife, Doey, who was a student in the nursing school. Dr. Barnett completed his residency in internal medicine at Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, and practiced in Berkeley, California. He loved gardening, tinkering with cars, and reading about science, politics, and the arts. Two siblings survive him. 

1974
Thomas Allyn, a nephrologist, died March 12, 2021. He was 74. After medical school, he completed his training at Massachusetts General Hospital and went on to private practice. He was chief of nephrology and chief of hemodialysis at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1981, he became chief of nephrology at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California, where he co-directed the acute dialysis program until 2016 and received the hospital’s Excellence in Teaching Award every year from 1987 to 2007. As co-chair of the Medical Advisory Panel at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for several years, he helped develop many patient care programs. He wrote about that process with Kenneth H. Cohn’76 and received the Dean Conley Award from the American College of Healthcare Executives for the best paper in 2009. In the 1980s, he co-founded the Santa Barbara Artificial Kidney Center, the Lompoc Artificial Kidney Center, and the first thriving multistation dialysis center in León, Mexico. He is survived by his wife, Denise, three children, five grandchildren, and three siblings.

1975
Edward Kohn, a psychiatrist, died June 12, 2020. He was married to Sandra Kohn, had one son, and was a stepfather.

1980
Hendrik “Rick” Michel Ecker, a cardiologist and emergency physician, died July 30, 2021, of cancer. He was 69. He completed his residency, cardiology fellowship, and cardiac electrophysiology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, where he met his wife, Kathleen. They traveled across Asia for two years, doing humanitarian work in Thailand and Burma. Upon returning home to Massachusetts, they started their private practice, Lower Cape Cardiology in the communities of Chatham and Orleans. Dr. Ecker was an emergency physician for more than 32 years at Cape Cod Hospital. He was an avid Philadelphia sports fan who also spent years coaching his children’s youth sports teams. He found joy in travel, participated in several humanitarian medical missions, and enjoyed painting and photography. In addition to his three children, he is survived by a brother. 

1981 PhD
Trudy Lipowsky, whose PhD from Columbia was in pathology, died Aug. 15, 2021, of cancer. She was 74. In the Displaced Persons Camp in Bergen-Belsen, Germany, Dr. Lipowsky was born to Holocaust survivors who after three years were able to settle in Bayonne, New Jersey. She earned two master’s degrees from Columbia in addition to her PhD. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and received fellowships from the NIH and the American Heart Association. While at Columbia, she met her husband, Herb Lipowsky, a postdoc in physiology. They lived in Teaneck, New Jersey, until 1989, when Herb was recruited to Penn State. Dr. Lipowsky was an avid reader and an accomplished cook. She served on the board of State College Hadassah and was active in Congregation Brit Shalom, the American Association of University Women, and the Nittany Valley Symphony Guild. She visited local schools to speak about the Holocaust. She is survived by her husband and son.