Dr. Meyer Halperin

Cardiologist, intellectualAventura, Fla. - Dr. Meyer H. Halperin, a well-known cardiologist in the Boston area for almost 40 years, died of pneumonia in Aventura, Fla., on Jan. 7, 2008. he was 92 years old.He was born on Dec. 27, 1915 in Brooklyn, N.Y., the eldest of three children of Abraham and Sarah (Soloducha) Halperin, who had emigrated from Eastern Europ. He spend his early years in Red Bank, N.J. and graduated high school there as valedictorian at the age of 16. His parents had a small grocery store, and he not only put himself through school but managed to provide for the higher education of his two siblings, as well.Early in life, he excelled academically, and his intellectual promise and motivation captured the attention of benefactors in the R.H. Macy and Co. family, owners of the large department store, who helped pay his tuition and fees to attend Columbia University.Graduating with top grades in 1936, he studied medicine at the Long Island College Hospital, now the Downstate Medical Center. After earning his doctoral degree, he undertook postgraduate residency training at the Harvard Medical School in Boston. During this period, he met Libby Shoer, a surgical nurse at the Beth Israel Hospital, and they married in 1944.Dr. Halperin engaged in early studies of aviation medicine at the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory with Ross A. MacFarland, a leading psychologist of the era. He then moved to the Evans Memorial at the Massachusetts Memorial Hospitals, forerunner of today's Boston Medical Center, and embarked on a career in cardiology. He became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1949, board certified in internal medicine in 1950, and certified in the subspecialty of cardiovascular disease in 1953. In collaboration with Dr. Robert W. Wilkins and others, he conducted seminal studies of blood flow, hypertension and heart failure, and joined the faculty of the Boston University School of Medicine, with which he remained affiliated as Associated Professor of Clinical Medicine and a favorite member of the visiting attending teaching staff for more than 30 years. He was elected Fellow of the Council on Clinical Cardiology in 1973.After the birth of two children while living in Roslindale, he entered private cardiology practice in Lynn.The family moved to Swampscott and expanded to four children, all of whom attended the Swampscott Public Schools before advancing to college and postgraduate degrees, three becoming physicians and one an attorney.As a young family, they drew upon Meyers experiences as a Boy Scout (he rose to the rank of Eagle Scout) and enjoyed outdoor camping trips together and a summer home in Great East Lake in Maine.After Libby's death in 1978, he married the former Rebecca (Bargad) Gordon, later moved to Marblehead, and eventually retired in Florida. Though he no longer practiced medicine, he continued an active intellectual life, enrolling regularly in a full program of college courses at several universities well into his eighties.He had avid interests in classical music, art, mathematics, Judaic studies and the natural sciences, achieved fluency in several languages, and nearly exhausted the curricular offerings of several university departments.He traveled widely, including trips to Europe, Israel and China, as well as throughout North America.In addition to his wife, Dr. Halperin leaves leaves two sons, Dr. Jonathan Halperin and his wife, Dr. Michelle Copeland of New York, Dr. Richard Halperin and his wife Patti Biller of Guilford, Conn., a daughter, Dr. Lisa F. Halperin and her husband Peter Shapiro of Boulder, Colo., a late son, Robert Halperin, who passed away in 2006, and his surviving wife, Candace Keller of Bethesda, Md., a sister, Pearl Levine of Durham, N.C., and 10 grandchildren; Robert and Libby Copeland-Halperin, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Anna, James, Sarah, and Julia Halperin, Samantha and Jessie Shapiro. He was predeceased by a brother, Dr. Jacob Halperin. He also leaves a stepson,