SAMUEL NUSSBAUM

1948 - 2021

NUSSBAUM, Samuel Physician, Researcher, Professor and Health Care Executive Physician, researcher, professor, health care executive, jam-maker, gardener, architecture aficionado, world traveler, runner, beloved husband, father, and grandfather Sam Nussbaum passed away on September 23rd at his home in Oak Bluffs. The cause was pancreatic cancer. Nussbaum led a long and varied career that began with two decades at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, where he led the Clinical Endocrine Group Practice, a place that became a training ground for many leaders in American medicine. Nussbaum's work helped unlock many of the secrets of how parathyroid hormone operates, binds to receptors, and helps control calcium levels and bone health. His research paved the way for the creation of synthetic parathyroid hormone and other drugs and treatments for osteoporosis and bone complications of cancer. At Mass General, his attentive, generous, and soft-spoken bedside manner earned him the gratitude and loyalty of patients, who would occasionally render payment in the form of live lobsters and Boston Bruins tickets. Early in his time at Mass General, Nussbaum joined a program in which Martha's Vineyard Hospital brought in physicians from elsewhere to help meet the influx of summer residents and their injuries. His experiences at Martha's Vineyard Hospital led him to implore all he knew to never get on a moped. It also led to a love of the island, which is where he passed away. His leadership of the endocrine group led him to healthcare management. He became Chairman of the Board of the troubled HMO Bay State Health Care, and orchestrated its merger with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, where he became Chief Medical officer. In subsequent years, he served as executive vice president, Medical Affairs and System Integration of BJC Health Care in St. Louis, Missouri and as Executive Vice President, Clinical Health Policy, and Chief Medical Officer for Anthem, the Indianapolis-based health insurer. While at Anthem, Dr. Nussbaum received the 2004 Physician Executive Award of Excellence from the American College of Physician Executives and Modern Physician magazine and was recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the "50 Most Influential Physician Executives in Healthcare." He brought to those roles a tireless commitment to patient advocacy and population health. He worked to ensure that the insurance industry embraced, and covered, new therapies. He immersed himself in patient outcome data to advocate for greater precision in treating individuals and populations, and played a role in advancing the Affordable Care Act. Upon retiring from Anthem, advised startups, biotech firms, publicly traded companies, and pension funds. Of particular interest to him were companies developing tests that would allow for the early detection of major diseases. Nussbaum loved growing his own vegetables and had his own orchard of fruit trees and berry bushes, from which he made his signature "Sam's jam". Upon moving From Boston to Saint Louis, he hired two trucks, a moving truck for furniture, and a flatbed for his fruit trees. He was a lover of cats, and had to be warned, when attending cat shows, to not return home with additional cats - a warning he occasionally failed to heed. He was an avid jogger, having run the Boston Marathon twice and the New York Marathon once. His pre-work routine often included swimming the length of Walden Pond. He loved traveling with his wife of 52 years, Rhoda. Together, they biked in the Loire Valley, hiked through the rainforests of Costa Rica, and pre-pandemic, sailed the Galapagos Islands. Nussbaum grew up in Kingston, New York. He spent summers working several "Borscht Belt" hotels, including the Bonnie View, which his family owned. After finishing Kingston high school in three years, Nussbaum entered the Scholars Program at New York University. He received his MD from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, graduating first in his class. He trained in internal medicine at Stanford University and Massachusetts General Hospital and in endocrinology at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Rhoda Kahn Nussbaum, his son Jeffrey, his daughters Cara (Scott Fudemberg) and Barrie (Dan Levine), six grandchildren, two nieces, Lisa and Jessica, and five grandnieces and nephews. He is also survived by his sister Ila (John Falvey), brother Bruce Nussbaum, two surprisingly devoted cats, and several dozen jars of his homegrown raspberry jam. A Memorial Service will be held at the Martha's Vineyard Hebrew Center on Wednesday, September 29th. One of his favorite sayings was that life was lived in three phases: learning, earning, and, through mentorship, teaching, and charity, returning. In lieu of flowers, gifts in Dr. Nussbaum's memory can be directed toward the Nussbaum Family fund at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, the Martha's Vineyard Hebrew Center Summer Institute, or to a charity of your choice.