Robert Chapman

1926 - 2019

Robert Chapman
Sept. 29, 1926 - July 16, 2019
Carmel
Robert Galbraith Chapman died peacefully on July 16, 2019, in Carmel, CA. He was 92. He was the oldest of three sons of Dr. Edward Chapman and Janet Chapman of Colorado Springs, CO, and Carmel, CA. His brothers, Edward Chapman, Jr. and Richard Chapman, predeceased him. He was born on September 29, 1926, and raised in Colorado Springs. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1944, from Yale College in 1947, and from Harvard Medical School in 1951. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1953 to 1955, as a First Lieutenant and then Captain in the Medical Corps, as a Flight Surgeon stationed at Lowry Air Force Base outside of Denver, CO.
Dr. Chapman married Virginia Potts of North Platte, NE, on July 6, 1956. In 1960, he joined the full-time faculty of the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver. He later moved into medical administration, and served as Chief of Staff at the Denver VA hospital and then as the Director of the Bonfils Blood Center (now Vitalant). He served on the Colorado Governor's Committees for Hemophilia, Sickle Cell Disease, and AIDS; was an honorary member of the Board of Colorado AIDS Project; and was a Trustee on the Research Board of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. His hobbies were wide-ranging, and included amateur radio; photography; computers; astronomy; bird watching; genealogy (his ancestor Robert Chapman was one of the original settlers of Old Saybrook, CT in 1635); investment management; music; and community service (he was an active member of the Carmel Valley Village Improvement Committee after he and Virginia moved there in 1991, as well as a member of the Community Church of the Monterey Peninsula).
Dr. Chapman is survived by his wife Virginia; his daughter Lucia, her fiancé Geoff Preu, and her children, Andrew Chatzky, Laura Chatzky, and Elizabeth Chatzky; his daughter Sarah, her husband Barry Bohrer, and their children, Marissa Bohrer and her husband Josh Leffler, Jonathan Bohrer, and William Bohrer; his son Robert and his wife Laurie Chapman; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Dr. Chapman was laid to rest at Cypress Cemetery in Old Saybrook. Those wishing to honor him are asked to donate to the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, CT, https://florencegriswoldmuseum.org/, or the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, https://fccol.org/, where his grandfather served as minister.


View the online memorial for Robert Chapman