DR. FLAVIU ROMANUL

1925 - 2017

ROMANUL, Dr. Flaviu Longtime Brookline resident who overcame persecution in communist Romania to become an admired neurologist and professor at Harvard and Boston University passed away on Sunday October 8, 2017 at the age of 91. Flaviu Cornel Alexandru Romanul was born on Christmas Day 1925 in Cluj, Romania, to the opera star Stella Roman and Aurel Romanul. When Flaviu was a child, his mother left Romania to pursue her singing career, leaving young Flaviu in a military boarding school. After Romania was occupied by German forces, Flaviu was forced by law to stay in military school throughout his schooling and ultimately conscripted into service during WWII. When Romania was liberated from German occupation in 1944, Flaviu left the military and entered medical school at the University of Cluj with plans to be a doctor. Students took to the streets waving Romanian flags to celebrate the armistice. For this Flaviu was arrested by Soviet soldiers charged with "anti-communist activities" and sentenced to death. He was imprisoned - first for 1 month in a group cell so crowded he had to crouch when he slept and then in solitary confinement where he was questioned at gunpoint every day for 6 months. Eventually with the help of his mother's connections and a family friend who was a judge he was able to escape communist prison and subsequently the country. Flaviu arrived in the United States in 1947 as an emaciated 22-year-old who knew only three words in English ; yes, no, and O.K. Within two years, he was granted permanent American residence under the Displaced Persons Act learned English and was accepted into Harvard Medical School. Graduating in 1953 he had his residency at Johns Hopkins University with a specialty in Neurology. He served two years in the US Navy at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He continued to serve in the Naval Reserves for 9 more years. In 1959, Dr. Romanul moved to Boston where he practiced and taught neurology and neuropathology for 41 years - at Boston Medical Center, the VA hospital, and at Boston City Hospital. He taught as an associate professor at Harvard Medical School for 13 years and as a professor at Boston University Medical School for 22 years. Each year from 1983 until 1993 he was the recipient of B.U.'s Best Teacher Award. As a result in 1993 the Flaviu C. A. Romanul Teaching Award was established by the graduating class of residents to be awarded every year to the best teacher in the Department of Neurology. Throughout his tenure Dr. Romanul did research on Polyomaviruses, lesions and tumors of the brain, Whipple Disease, and strokes. He authored 35 major papers in journals including Nature, the New England Journal of Medicine, Neurology, the American Journal of Neurology, and the Archives of Neurology. In 1994, Dr. Romanul was listed in Best Doctors in America. He retired in 2000 at the age of 74. Known as Granddaddy to his 5 grandchildren and Mos to his 2 great-grandchildren Flaviu leaves behind a legacy of incredibly hard work, dedication, ethics, kindness, and generosity. He spoke 6 languages and shared with his family his love of the arts, a well-placed pun, and The New Yorker cartoons. In particular he passed on his and his mother's love of music as children, his 4 sons traveled and performed extensively together as the Romanul Quartet and continue to perform today: Myron as a conductor in Germany, Victor as a violinist in the Boston Symphony, and Alexander as a violinist as well. Flaviu was preceded in death by his mother in 1992 his brother Nerva in 1946 and Nancy his first wife of 39 years in 1991. He is survived by his wife of 15 years Dorothy (Kushious), his 4 sons: Myron of Munich, Germany, Michael of Needham, Victor, of Mansfield, Alexander of Vermont, his 5 grandchildren: Iliana, Devin, Nicholas, Emily, Jeremy, and his 2 great-grandchildren: Jack and Eleanor. His funeral and burial will be at the Swan Point Chapel and Cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island on Friday November 3, 2017 at 12:00noon exactly 70 years to the day of his first arriving on American soil.