Robert Daniel Hoeldtke

On December 2, 2022, Dr. Robert Hoeldtke died in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Born December 30,1940, he grew up in Amherst, New York. He was the son of Ernest and Cathryn Gray Hoeldtke. He completed his undergraduate studies at Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts. In 1966 he received his medical degree from Cornell University Medical School, New York, New York. Dr. Hoeldtke completed a medical internship at Rush Presbyterian University Hospital, Chicago, Illinois. He subsequently obtained a PhD degree in nutrition and biochemistry from MIT University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. After several years of research in neuroscience at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, Dr. Hoeldtke went on to finish his clinical residency training in internal medicine and a subspecialty fellowship in endocrinology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

He devoted his professional career to academic medicine as a teacher, physician and a researcher. In 1980 Dr. Hoeldtke accepted a clinical/research position at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Between 1990 and 2008 he continued his clinical and research career at West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia. While there, he received the endowed Compton Chair Professorship of Endocrinology, facilitating his research in nutrition and diabetes.

He ended his career upon retirement from the Ochsner LSU Medical Center of LSU University, Shreveport, Louisiana.

In his free time, Dr. Hoeldtke enjoyed his family, friends, tennis, skiing and music. He was an accomplished piano and saxophone player.

Dr. Hoeldtke was preceded in death by his parents and his daughter Kristine Ingrid Hoeldtke. He is survived by his wife Kerstin, son Martin Erik, his sister-in-law Elizabeth Hoeldtke, nephew Rowan Hoeldtke and several cousins and friends.

The remains of Dr. Hoeldtke were laid to rest beside his parents and his brother E. Frederick Hoeldtke who joined him in death on April 23, 2023, in North Presbyterian Church's Memorial Garden in Williamsville, New York on June 13, 2023.

Contributions in his memory should be directed to the donor's wishes.