ROBERT SCHAEFER

SCHAEFER--Robert

Anthony, MD, passed away on February 12, 2018. Dr. Schaefer had been a beloved physician and educator in gastroenterology and internal medicine, and he was an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell. Medicine was his life-long passion and he took tremendous pride in the care he provided for his patients and the generations of future physicians and leaders in medicine whom he trained. Born in Brooklyn on March 1, 1939, Bob was raised in Dobbs Ferry and graduated from Iona Prep. He matriculated at Yale at the age of 16, and graduated in 1959. At Yale, he developed his other passions in life: music and history. He was director for music of the Yale Broadcasting Company and throughout his life was a great patron of classical music in New York. He went to medical school at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and then did his residency at Vanderbilt University. He was proud of his service as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy from 1965-1967. He served in Chu Lai, Vietnam as a medical officer with the 9th Engineer Battalion of the First Marine Division. He earned decorations and medals for National Defense Service, Vietnam Service with a Bronze Star, and for the Vietnamese Campaign. After completing a chief residency at University of Vermont, he came to Cornell Medical Center in 1969 for gastroenterology fellowship. He remained affiliated with Cornell for the remainder of his medical career. Bob is survived by his wife, Dr. Mary Jeanne Kreek, the Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Professor and Head of the Laboratory of the Biology of Addictive Diseases at Rockefeller University and senior physician at the Rockefeller University Hospital. He is also survived by his two children: Robert A. Schaefer, Jr., JD, and Esperance Schaefer, MD, MPH, and two grandchildren: Merrill Anne Schaefer and Robert Michael Welday. Visitation will be on Friday, February 23 from 2-4pm and 6-8pm at Frank E. Campbell at 1076 Madison Avenue. A funeral service will be held at the Church of the Epiphany at 1393 York Avenue on Saturday, February 24 at 2pm.