Eugene Howard Galen

1934 - 2018

January 16, 1934 - April 16, 2018 Eugene Howard Galen, MD Eugene "Gene" Howard Galen passed away in his Beverly Hills home on April 16, 2018 after a long illness, surrounded by his loving family. Gene was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, to Samuel and Dora Galinsky and graduated from Perth Amboy High School in 1952, where he was president of the student council and played the trumpet in the high school band. Biking made him feel free and adventurous and he longed to travel. At the age of 14, he spent an entire summer, along with a youth hostel group, riding his 3-speed English Hummer bicycle across the entire United States, from New Jersey to California, and back, with side trips to and from Canada. The group carried their own provisions and usually slept outside on the ground in a "pup tent" that they pitched each night themselves, cooking their own meals. He continued his biking even as an adult, sometimes biking as much as 60 miles in one day along with his two sons. He loved to study languages and by the age of 16, he was fluent in both French and German, and of course English. Later he also learned to speak both Spanish and, most impressive of all, taught himself to speak Russian. Upon completion of high school, he attended The Johns Hopkins University and while there, he was awarded an academic scholarship and admitted to the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Fraternity. He completed all his courses in two and a half years and spent the balance of his third year at Johns Hopkins University doing heart research. He graduated ninth in his class in 1955 with both general and departmental honors. Gene earned his MD degree in 1959 from the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center. During his last year in medical school he met the love of his life, Suzanne Kalkstein, and they were married shortly thereafter. Gene completed his postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at The Boston City Hospital Medical Center and at The University of California Medical Center in San Francisco, completing his education with a fellowship in Gastroenterology at the Los Angeles Veterans Administration Center. Gene had no shortage of political opinion and widely shared his essays with his friends and colleagues. In the late 1960s he joined with Dr. Spock, marching in Los Angeles in protest of the Vietnam War. Gene and Sue settled in Beverly Hills where he practiced internal medicine for over thirty years. While living in California, he never forgot his original roots and his teenage school friends. For over thirty years after settling in California, Gene and numerous of his Perth Amboy High School friends traveled from all over the country, often numbering close to 20, where they met once a year, usually in Las Vegas, for a week of swimming, eating and mainly reminiscing, in an attempt to recapture their childhood. The group only disbanded after their last and final trip in 2016. After settling in Beverly Hills, Gene took up sailing. He sailed his medium-sized boat in the largest international boat race from Newport Beach to Ensenada, Mexico, on two occasions, but was happy just to make it to the finish line, and then, on only one occasion. He made numerous other weekend sailing trips along with his family, his grandchildren, and even taking his dog. His happiest days were those spent on his sailboat. Gene immersed himself in genealogy and spent his later years tracing his family back numerous generations. During that time he managed to locate relatives in Europe, Russia, Poland, & Israel who had survived the Holocaust, and most of whom had no knowledge of the existence or survival of another family members. They corresponded with him and his other faraway family members for almost 17 years before Gene and his wife managed, after numerous complications, to obtain visas to visit both Russia and Poland in 1984 where he met some of the survivors of his family who had settled there after the war, thinking all the while that they had no living relatives. It was a tearful reunion and eventually they also managed, also with much difficulty, to visit him several years later in Beverly Hills. Gene is survived by his loving wife of almost 58 years, Suzanne; his two sons Dr. Douglas (Jodi) Galen and Dr. Steven (Laurie Saul) Galen; and his six grandchildren Joshua, Samantha, Rachel, Zachary, Andrew and Alyssa. In addition, his two sisters Ada Kless Gilbert of Newport Beach, CA, and Bernice Scher of NJ. Funeral Services will be held at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills on Tuesday, April 17th at 2:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, please feel free to contribute to your favorite charities.