MONROE KARETZKY

KARETZKY--Monroe, MD. 1938-2020 Dr. Monroe Karetzky passed on Friday, October 16 at his home surrounded by his loving family. A rambunctious child, born in Brooklyn to his doting physician father Alexander and encouraging mother, Florence, he was a widely renowned and respected pulmonary physician and academic professor who was dedicated to public service. A recognized scholar of pulmonary and sleep medicine with nearly a hundred publications and a textbook on Pneumonia, he ran the ICU, Pulmonary and Sleep Centers and established the fellowship and residency programs at Newark Beth Israel for 30 years. Until recently, he pursued private practice in the Bronx and in Englewood, NJ. Dr. Karetzky was a graduate of Cornell University and Cornell Medical School, with an internship, residency and fellowship at Bassett Hospital, Cooperstown, NY. During the Vietnam war, he served as a captain in the Air Force as a research physician. An assistant professor at Dartmouth and Albert Einstein Medical schools, an associate academic professor at Rutgers Medical School and New Jersey Medical School, he had board certification in Internal Medicine, Sleep, Pulmonary, Critical Care, Geriatric Medicine. His work and research were his passions, and he was beloved by both his students and his patients for his knowledge, compassion and sense of humor. Scholarly, generous, uncompromising, loving, modest, supportive and strong to the end, he is survived by his devoted wife Patricia of 48 years, children Laura, Sarah, Evan, Alexis, eight grandchildren and his elder sister Carol Kossar and her husband Bernie.