Frederic H. Gerber M.D.

1936 - 2016

Frederic H. Gerber, MD

Frederic H. Gerber, MD died October 2, 2016 of complications of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), exercising his choice under the Washington State Death with Dignity Act. He was 80 years old.

The first of three children of Dr. Joseph and Freda Guzman Gerber, Fred was born in Reno, Nevada on March 8, 1936. The family soon moved to New York City, thence to Princeton, Kentucky; then Whipple, Arizona; Portland, Oregon, where he entered kindergarten; Glendale, California after his father joined the Army Air Corps in 1942; and back to New York City for the duration of World War II. After the end of the war, reunited with his father who had been overseas for more than two years, the family moved to Oteen, North Carolina; then to Woodmont, Connecticut and Silver Spring, Maryland where he attended Blair High School. Wishing to attend, but not able to afford an Ivy League school, Fred obtained a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship and entered Cornell University in the fall of 1953. Upon graduation in 1957 he entered the US Marine Corps for a three-year tour. In February 1958 Fred and Ze (Zenta Zebergs) married. He entered the University of Maryland to complete premed courses and in September 1961 Fred and Ze moved to Durham, North Carolina, where, under the auspices of the U.S. Navy, Fred matriculated at Duke University School of Medicine (son David born December 1963).

Receiving his MD in June 1965, the odyssey resumed: Oakland, California for a year of internship; Groton, Connecticut for two years in the submarine service with a year and a half on the USS Will Rogers (SSBN 659) (son Michael born July 1966); back to Oakland California for three years of radiology residency; 2 years of nuclear medicine fellowship at the University of Washington; three years on the staff of the Bethesda Naval Hospital; culminating in a 5+ year tour as director of radiology at the San Diego Naval Hospital.

After retiring from the Navy in February 1982 with the rank of Captain the family returned to the Seattle area where Fred and Ze have remained. Fred joined a group practice, Pacific Medical Centers, as a radiologist, where he practiced for 16 years. Soon after moving back to Seattle area, Fred and Ze embarked on a 30-year quest to see the world, managing to visit 100 countries, all seven continents, the 24 time zones, and most of the world's oceans. Among many high points: Penguins in Antarctica, a tribal Sing Sing in Papua New Guinea, whales and polar bears around Spitsbergen, elephant families and indigenous communities in Tanzania, the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, the great pyramids of Egypt, fairy penguins in Australia, snorkeling with millions of jellyfish on a tiny island along Wallace's Line, the Sunday market in Kashgar, China, Paris, Tuscany in springtime. Travel expands the mind and encourages the spirit.

From 1983 until 1992, Fred served as a medical advisor to the test director of the nuclear weapons testing program in Nevada participating in some 70 underground nuclear weapons tests. He retired from full-time practice in 2000 and for the next 13 years worked part time reading mammograms before fully retiring in mid-2013. It was at the end of that year that ALS began to manifest itself. In early 2015 Fred and Ze sold their house in Medina and moved to a retirement community in Issaquah, Washington, where they remained for the balance of his life.

Fred was predeceased by his father Joe, his mother Freda and his brother Robert. He is survived by Ze, his wife of 58 years; sons David, of Eugene, Oregon and Michael (Julie Silva) of Grover Beach, California; grandsons, Nicholas and Cole; brother Peter of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and a host of nephews, nieces and cousins.

Another star bursts forth

into the firmament.