Sidney Nathan Klaus

1931 - 2025

Sidney Nathan Klaus

Norwich, VT - Sidney Nathan Klaus, MD, 94, died Wednesday, December 24, 2025, peacefully at his home.

Sid was born June 29, 1931, in Detroit, MI, a son of Morris and Mae (Schwartz) Klaus. He grew up in Detroit, attended Durfee Elementary and Middle School, and graduated from Central High School in 1949. He continued his education at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan Medical School, graduating in 1957.

Sid completed his internship at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover, NH, from 1957 to 1958, before beginning his dermatology training at the Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis, MN, in 1959. His residency was interrupted by a two-year commitment to the United States Navy, where he served as a general Medical Officer, stationed in Sasebo, Japan. Following his discharge in 1961, he returned to the Mayo Clinic, completing his training in 1963.

Sid went on to serve as a fellow at the National Institutes of Health until 1964, when he joined the Department of Dermatology at Yale University, rising from Instructor to full Professor by 1974. At Yale, he became widely recognized for his work in pigment biology, with research ranging from the basic biology of melanin and melanocytes to the cultural and historical dimensions of human pigmentation. Equally important to him was teaching; generations of medical students and residents remember his devotion, curiosity, and generosity as a mentor.

Sid's career reflected a deep global engagement. He made teaching visits to Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia. As a Visiting Professor at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, during a turbulent political period, he expanded his interests to parasitic skin diseases, later spending a year at the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, where he met his wife, Scottish poet and teacher, Anne Shivas, in 1986. They married in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1989. In 1987, Sid moved to Jerusalem to found and chair the Department of Dermatology at Hadassah Hospital, part of Hebrew University's School of Medicine, becoming its first Phillip Frost Professor. Under his leadership, the department achieved international recognition.

During his years in Israel, Sid had the opportunity to continue his interest in the complex history of man's inquiry into the biology of skin pigmentation. He did so as a W.E.B. DuBois Institute Scholar at Harvard University from 1995-96, as a research associate of Henry Louis ("Skip") Gates, Jr.

In 1999, Sid and Anne, left Israel and returned to the Dartmouth community where Sid served as a Professor of Dermatology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and Professor of Medicine (Dermatology) at Dartmouth Medical School, as Interim Chief of Dermatology at DHMC from 2004-05, and then as Chief of the Dermatology Service at the White River Junction Veterans Administration Medical Center until he retired at the end of 2013. Following his retirement Sid and Anne divided their time between Norwich, VT and Scotland for many years

An accomplished athlete, Sid ran numerous marathons, completed a full triathlon, loved skiing, snorkeling, diving and sailing, played squash well into later life, and climbed Mount Kenya, Kilimanjaro and Mount Fuji. Sid and Anne enjoyed adventure, travel and hiking in the Middle East, Europe, Scotland, Colorado, and New England, as well as the Galapagos Islands, Hawaii and the Caribbean. Sid also enjoyed the arts, music and literature, played the recorder and made wood and linocut prints. In his later years he enjoyed many life-long education courses through Osher at Dartmouth. Sid loved the natural world, and was famously devoted to their several dogs. He was known for his great capacity for joy and enjoyment. He loved to praise the good, to find a reason to praise the good.

As a distinguished dermatologist whose career bridged institutions, disciplines, and continents, Sid practiced medicine as a masterful clinician, a careful scholar, a generous mentor, and an inspiration to many. He was one of those rare people – a polymath who felt at ease in any academic or intellectual setting; he had a particular vitality, warmth and humanity that made everyone around him feel better about themselves and to feel that they were insightful scholars and witty conversationalists. Students and colleagues at every level cherished their time with him. He was the professor who wanted to know what made each student feel most alive. Sid was academically adventurous in thought; rigorous in his research pursuits; courteous in expressing those ideas; and able to spread praise for those ideas among his students and colleagues.

Sid was predeceased by his two brothers, David and Allen Klaus. He is survived by his wife, Anne Shivas of Norwich; two sons, from a first marriage to Emly McDiarmid, Jeffrey Klaus of New Haven, CT, and Peter Klaus of St. John, VI; five grandchildren, Jenna, Lauren, Adam, Johnnie, and Julian; a nephew, Glenn Klaus, and two grand-nephews, Spencer and Finn.

A celebration of Sid's life will be held on Saturday, July 11th, 1:00pm, at St Barnabas Episcopal Church, Norwich, VT. Knight Funeral Home of White River Junction, VT is assisting with arrangements. Condolences may be expressed in an online guestbook at www.knightfuneralhomes.com.

Memorial contributions may be made to Good Neighbor Health Clinic, PO Box 1250, White River Junction VT 05001, https://goodneighborhealthclinic.org/donate/ or Upper Valley Humane Society, PO Box 789, Lebanon, NH 03766, https://uvhs.org/donate-now/