Saul A. Rosenberg

1927 – 2022

Saul Rosenberg passed away peacefully in the presence of his children on September 5, 2022, at the age of 95. He was born and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and was the first of his family to attend college. He was drafted into the US Marines during the Korean War and served as a battalion surgeon with the infantry. He later transferred to the Naval Hospital in Corona, CA, where his met his wife, Shirley, who was a social worker with the American Red Cross.

Saul completed his medical training at the University Hospitals in Cleveland and at Harvard at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, where he was chief resident. He received special training in medical oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York. He joined the faculty at Stanford University in the Departments of Medicine and Radiation Therapy in 1961, and became Emeritus in 1996. He continued to see patients, many going back 30-40 years, until the COVID pandemic prevented him from doing so but he remained an active faculty member almost up until his death.

He established the Division of Medical Oncology at Stanford in 1965, one of the first of its kind and was chief of that division until 1993. His early collaborations with Dr Henry Kaplan and continued research and clinical work with many colleagues over the years revolutionized the field of lymphoma – specifically Hodgkin’s lymphoma – turning a terminal diagnosis to one of hope and cure.

As important as his contributions were to the treatment and cure rate of Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, he believed his most lasting contribution and legacy was in his training of more than 100 post doctoral fellows and many more students, some who have themselves gone on to become world leaders in the field.

While his work was truly his life, he began to spend some time away from it later in his career. With Shirley by his side, he enjoyed exploring the small villages of Provence, fishing the trout streams of Montana and Idaho, and spending summer months at their beloved home on the shores of Lake Almanor.

Saul is survived by his children, Anne and David, and his grandchildren, Zachary, Chloe and Sloan but has joined his wife Shirley in the great beyond. He will truly be missed by his colleagues, his patients and their families, and his many friends… but most of all by his children and grandchildren.

A celebration of his life will be planned at a future date.