Robert Kerwin Adler

ADLER--Robert Kerwin, died April 8, 2008. Born 1919, Bronx, NY; lately of Chicago, Illinois. Starting at age 16, after graduating from Madison High School in Brooklyn, he was an active participant in the labor and anti-fascist movements in New York City. He enlisted in the US Army in early 1942, serving for three and a half years in New Guinea and Australia. Following World War II he obtained his undergraduate degree from New York University, where he met, and in 1948 married, Charlotte Scher -his sweetheart for 60 years. He earned a Master's degree at Columbia University and spent his entire career in hospital administration, for 13 years as associate administrator of Brooklyn Jewish Hospital, and then for 20 years at Montefiore Hospital, Bronx, as administrative director of its outpatient medical group. He was instrumental in the early development of hospitalbased managed health care and the implementation of programs for emerging treatments such as kidney dialysis and radiation therapy. The main focus and joy of his life was his family. He is survived by siblings Fred Adler, Harriet Raboy, and Sally Frankel, was predeceased by sister Ruth Fiske, and had a large number of nieces and nephews to whom he was devoted. Father of Dr. Steven Adler (Karen) of Seattle, and Cara Adler (Dr. Douglas Bishop) of Chicago, and grandfather of Nathan and Rachel Adler Bishop and Katherine and Jacob Adler, Robert always considered himself a rich man and regarded his children and grandchildren as his crown jewels. He was a man of brilliance, intellect, marvelous wit and sense of humor; with a life-long passion for history and politics which he loved to discuss and debate. A warm, caring man, he was a forceful presence who "filled up a room."