Marc J. Koblick

With our 40th year medical school reunion approaching I decided to look up my classmate and old fishing buddy, Dr. Marc Koblick to see if he was planning to attend. Shockingly, I found that he had passed. My sincere condolences to his family. I have fond memories of his trained parakeet, his trumpet playing, and wonderfully pleasant demeanor. One memory stands out. It was near graduation time from UB School of Medicine when he and I decided to try our luck fishing the Niagara River just downstream of the Peace Bridge in Buffalo. A local marina had rented us a 14 foot aluminum fishing boat with a 7.5 hp outboard motor and seat cushion life preservers. Having no luck after a couple of hours we foolishly took a lock around the upper rapids and out onto Lake Erie well above the upper rapids. (In Buffalo - 20+ miles from the falls). We slowly drifted towards the Peace Bridge where Lake Erie becomes the Niagara River and the start of the upper rapids. We decided that we should head back through the lock before the current became too fast for our anemic outboard motor. I don´t know how many times I pulled the starter cord, but it soon became apparent that even if the motor started we would not be able to overcome the increasing swift current and would going under the Peace Bridge and into the fierce upper Niagara River rapids. Even worse was the fact that we were turned sideways and heading straight towards the protruding concrete old City of Buffalo water intake structure. We clung onto our only source of flotation, the seat cushions, and feared our medical careers would be cut short before they even began. I feverishly continued to yank on the starter cord and seemingly at the last possible moment the motor sputtered to life and I was able to point the boat downstream and narrowly avoid collision with the concrete water intake that loomed ahead and would have been our certain demise. To say that we had the ride of our lives through the 15 foot standing waves of the upper rapids would be a serious understatement. Gradually the rapids slowed as the river widened and it became apparent that we would indeed graduate from medical school in a couple of weeks, barring any other foolish decisions. Through the frantic several minutes of sheer terror we had neglected to reel in our fishing lines. It was readily obvious we had our share of fishing for the day, picked up our rods and began to reel in our lines, only to discover that Marc had caught a substantially sized smallmouth bass somewhere in the upper rapids. We graduated and went our separate ways to residencies and lost track of each other in the ensuing rigors of training and establishing our medical practices. Fair winds and a following tide, my friend.

Marc was one of a kind who sincerely cared about his patients, his music, his fur friends and most of all his family. He will sincerely be missed by all.

Helene and family, my deepest sympathy to you. Marc as he wanted me to call him was a very special man. Kathy Evans

My prayers are with you and your family at this time. Dr Koblick was a kind human being and an awesome Doctor to work for ,It was an honor to have known him . May the angels take care of him . Sincerely Valli Genovese from FHCP ophthalmology {Faith}

May God bless you and your family in this time of deep sorrow. May Marc Rest In Peace, & your family find solace in his not suffering anymore. Please accept our familys sympathy at the loss of your dear husband, great father & friend. Love & prayers to you all.