Ernest H. Rosenbaum

ERNEST H. ROSENBAUM MD

Dr. Ernest Harold Rosenbaum, M.D., passed on peacefully on September 7, 2010. Dr. Rosenbaum was a well-known medical oncologist and hematologist living in San Francisco. He also was Clinical Professor of Medicine, Emeritus at UCSF, and Adjunct Clinical Professor of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. Though he retired in 2006 after 50 years of medical practice (mostly in association with Mount Zion Hospital and UCSF), he continued writing and working on programs to benefit cancer patients, survivors and families until his death.
Dr. Rosenbaum was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and in 1943 moved with his family to Albuquerque, New Mexico. He attended prep school on the Stanford campus (Interdale, now Menlo) and later graduated from the Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania in 1947. After attending the University of New Mexico, he attended the University of Colorado Medical School where he received his Medical degree in 1956. From 1956 - 1957 he interned at the San Francisco General Hospital, Stanford Service, and completed his residency at the San Francisco General Hospital, Stanford Service, and Mount Zion Hospital. He additionally trained in hematology and oncology at Tufts New England Hospital Medical Center in Boston and spent a year at MIT with an NIH postdoctoral fellowship. He returned to San Francisco in 1963 and joined John J. Sampson in clinical practice where he specialized in hematology and oncology.
Dr. Rosenbaum was especially proud of his service as a captain in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps from 1959 to 1961. Stationed in Sheppard Air Force Base, Wichita Falls, Texas, he served as the General Medical Officer for the US Air Force Polio Center, an Allergy Center servicing eleven states. In the Air Force, he was flown to different states treating patients in military hospitals and clinics.
In 1948, he met Isadora Feldstein, and they were engaged within three weeks and married eleven months later. They celebrated 60th anniversary of their life together as life partners, colleagues, parents and best friends several months before the passing of Isadora. Together they attended college at UNM where Isadora majored in Piano while Ernest majored in Pre-Medicine. Through their life they shared a life long passion for music (especially Opera) and art. In addition, they loved to travel reaching every continent around the world and visiting their children and grandchildren.
Dr. Rosenbaum's achievements are many. As a pioneer in providing guidance and supportive information for cancer patients and their families, he authored over 25 books and over 100 articles and presentations. His major accomplishments include the publication of Everyone's Guide to Cancer Therapy (2000, 5th edition), Everyone's Guide to Supportive Care (2005) and Everyone's Guide to Cancer Survivorship (2007). While at Mount Zion he was responsible for forming the Medical Oncology Service, assisted in developing the first genetic counseling service and Art for Recovery program. He helped develop the first hospice in San Francisco with the Regional Cancer Foundation where he was medical director in 1968 and the Cancer Supportive Program at Stanford in 1998. He participated in many research projects in basic science, immunology, melanoma and breast cancer, as well as supportive care, home care, and rehabilitation programs for cancer patients.
Together with Isadora they developed home care programs with two books and a video training program. He published twenty-five books on cancer care, supportive care, and survivorship and cancer therapy. His many awards include the first Endowed Chair in Oncology at the University of California, San Francisco, and the Dean's Medal at Stanford for his development of the Cancer Supportive Care Program at the Stanford Cancer Center. He lectured in many countries helping develop a Home Care Program in, Italy, Israel and Nepal. Combining his love of opera and medicine, he served as the medical advisor and physician for the San Francisco Opera for over 40 years.
Dr. Rosenbaum believed that his legacy was in "how we care for the sick and dying, often going far beyond the accepted standard of care to check on their wellbeing". Together with Isadora, he tirelessly worked to raise the quality of patient care and awareness for people living with cancer and their families.
He was a loving and devoted father to his children Eileen and Josef Marom, Alexandra and Richard von Ehrenkrook, Diane and Richard Shapiro, and Steven and Kate Davis-Rosenbaum. He loved and followed the adventures of his six grandchildren, Rachel and Daniel Marom, Stephanie Shapiro, Miriam Davis-Rosenbaum, Leah and Erik von Ehrenkrook. He is survived by his brothers Jacob and Margie, Arthur and Rona, and his sister Lillian Snyder and Mary Alice Morris.
Services will be held on Monday, September 13th, at 11:00am at Congregation Emanu-El, Lake St. at Arguello Boulevard in San Francisco. Interment to follow at Eternal Home Cemetery in Colma.
Donations in his memory may be sent to: Rosenbaum-Cancer Supportive Care Fund at Stanford, c/o: The Cancer Survivorship Program in Integrative Medicine, Rebecca A. Shreve Administrative Services Manager, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences School of Medicine, Stanford University, 401 Quarry Road, #3211, Stanford CA. 94305-5717, or The Ernest H. Rosenbaum Cancer Endowed Chair at UCSF, P.O. Box 45339, San Francisco, CA 94145-0339 or to The San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Opera Association, 301 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102; or simply do a random act of kindness for someone in need.

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