Walter Newman

1952 - 2023

Walter Newman
April 3, 1952 - July 22, 2023
Dr. Walt Newman passed away peacefully on Saturday, July 22, 2023 in San Jose, California. Walt was 71. He is survived by his mother, Ellen Magnin Newman and his brother, John D. Newman.
Walt's family is coordinating a celebration of his life to be held later this Summer. If you would like to be kept informed about this celebration, please reply to this post, or please email CelebrateWaltNewman@gmail.com
Walt was a 4th generation Californian with ancestral ties to the town of Newman, CA. The town was founded in 1888. Walt was dedicated to his family and its long history. He maintained an extensive Newman Family Tree and organized Newman family members annually to return to the town over Labor Day holidays to participate in The Newman Fall Festival.
Walt was born and raised in San Francisco where he attended Town School for Boys before heading to the East Coast to attend Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Walt received his undergraduate degree With Honors from Stanford, and then his medical degree from UCSF Medical School. Walt excelled academically. He received achievement awards at all levels of his studies.
Following his graduation from Medical School, Walt wanted to apply his training as "a country doctor" in a personalized and caring manner. To do so, in 1980 Walt moved from San Francisco to the then emerging community of San Jose prior to the evolution of the Silicon Valley as we know it today. He started his medical career as a family doctor taking care of the needs of entire families from the beginning, to the end of life, and providing care in his genuine, compassionate and insightful manner. Walt was an amazing listener to the needs of his patients from diverse communities. To better serve them, he committed to learn the languages of his patients. Accordingly, Walt was fluent in French, Italian, and Spanish, and conversational with his patients in Tagalog, Farsi and Vietnamese.
Later in his career, Walt developed a specialization in Occupational Medicine to help address the medical needs of agricultural workers. For years, Walt served as Medical Director of Monterey Mushrooms overseeing the general medical needs of thousands of agricultural workers. He also served as a Consulting Medical Director to the Robert F. Kennedy Medical Plan which provided health care insurance for the United Farm Workers, a large agricultural labor union organized by the late Cesar Chavez.
In addition to his private medical practice at Newman Medical Group, Walt taught at Stanford and UCSF in the Department of Medicine. He was devoted to mentoring and inspiring medical students to support providing medical care to undeserved communities. Walt organized medical student volunteers known as "flu crews" to go out to undeserved communities throughout Northern California to provide free flu vaccinations. During the recent pandemic, the mission of these volunteer crews was expanded to include COVID-19 vaccinations. Walt's dedication and compassion for others led to Walt being the first recipient of The Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Award from The Western Occupational & Environmental Medical Association ("WOEMA"). Walt also served as President and a member of the Board of WOEMA for many years.
When Walt had free time from his medical practice, his first love was the theater arts. For decades, he organized trips of interested family and friends to make trips to Ashland, Oregon for a wide range of theater performances; however, his most passionate theater interest was locally in San Jose with The Children's Musical Theater of San Jose (CMTSJ). Walt served on the advisory board of CMTSJ for many years, and he was a regular attendee at CMTSJ performances. He was particularly moved by the CMTSJ mission that young performers would be placed in a show regardless of experience, or any physical or financial limitations. Simply put, CMTSJ would cast all performers that wished to participate.This worthy mission helped to build confidence and self-esteem in young performers.
Walt provided medical care for every member of his immediate Newman Family and countless relatives and friends who called upon him for consultation and referral on a range of medical issues. Walt prided himself on being available to intervene whenever family and friends could benefit from his knowledge and hands-on experience. He did so often and without any expectation of return.
Walt was a truly brilliant doctor, and a loving and compassionate man.
Walt often quoted lines from theater performances. One of his favorites was from Act III of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night….
"I can no other answer make, …. but thanks, and thanks….and ever thanks…"
For those of us who had the privilege of knowing Walt in any way …. we give no other answer make, …. but thanks….and thanks and ever thanks.
Walt lived a beautiful life. We will bless his memory by carrying his spirit in our hearts and minds forever.
Rest in heavenly peace Walt.
Donations in Walt's memory may be made to CMTSJ at https://www.cmtsj.org/support or a charity of importance to you.
For Walt, the joy was always in the giving.