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In Memoriam

Dr. Marcel Krauthammer (Northridge), a pulmonologist and adjunct professor of medicine for 23 years at UCLA and the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System has died from brain cancer. He was 59.

Serving as director of the medical intensive care unit at the VA Medical Center at Sepulveda for 17 years, Krauthammer treated the most critically ill patients suffering from conditions such as AIDS, renal failure, heart attack and acute respiratory failure.

A gifted teacher, Krauthammer received many awards for his commitment to excellence in teaching, patient care and academics. He was awarded the Golden Apple Award three times from the UCLA-San Fernando Valley Medical Program house staff, an annual honor given to the most outstanding teacher from the training program. He also received several faculty awards including Teacher of the Year in 1996 and the Clinical Faculty Teaching Award in 1980.

“Marcel’s dedication to lifelong learning made him an excellent teacher and role model for students, faculty and staff. His enthusiasm and energy were awe-inspiring,” said Dr. Michael S. Golub, senate emeritus professor and former chair, UCLA-San Fernando Valley Medical Program and former chief of medicine at the Sepulveda VA.

Krauthammer truly enjoyed his students and specialized in reading X-rays of the chest and lungs. He would present “mystery” X-rays and students in class as well as colleagues at regional conferences, would try and identify the condition or disease. His extensive chest X-ray collection recently was donated to the UCLA Department of Radiology and continues to be used for teaching purposes.

“Marcel was relentless in his pursuit of knowledge and in tracking down solutions to medical problems. He passed this motivation on to everyone he taught,” said Dr. Irwin Ziment, senate emeritus professor and former chief of medicine at Valleycare Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, who knew Krauthammer for 25 years.

Active in professional organizations, Krauthammer served as president of the Trudeau Society of Greater Los Angeles, which is associated with the American Lung Association and composed of academic and private pulmonologists. He received the David Salkin Award presented to a member who best embodies the principles, goals and spirit of this group.

Krauthammer was a member of the American College of Chest Physicians, American Thoracic Society and the Society of Critical Care Medicine. He also chaired pulmonary care symposiums and research conferences in Southern California.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he completed his undergraduate work in Canada and received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York in 1971.  He started his medical career at UCLA and the VA as a staff physician in 1977 and retired in 2000. He died Jan 17.

Diagnosed in 1988 with a rare esthesioneuroblastoma, Krauthammer continued to teach and work despite numerous treatments and two-dozen surgeries. Throughout his struggle, he maintained his interest and enthusiasm for medicine, sports and religion. His dedication and courage will be remembered by his family, friends, colleagues and patients.

“One of the most determined people I’ve ever known, Marcel played to win. The only battle he lost was with cancer. He will be sorely missed,” Ziment said.

Krauthammer is survived by his devoted wife, Joy Krauthammer; his daughter and son‑in-law, Aviva and Brett Freedman; his mother, Thea Krauthammer; and his brother, Dr. Charles Krauthammer.

 Foster H. Sherwood, former vice chancellor at UCLA, died Jan. 26 in Palm Springs of natural causes. He was 89. He was born on April 6, 1916, to George Eulas Foster Sherwood and his wife, Mabel, in Golden, Co., and attended UCLA as a student, obtaining his B.A. and Ph.D. in political science. “Foster Sherwood grew up, in a sense, with UCLA, having been the son of a faculty member who taught both on the Vermont Avenue and Westwood campuses,” wrote Winston Crouch in “A History of the Department of Political Science” (1987). After completing his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees at UCLA, Sherwood received a fellowship at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. He worked with Professor Charles G. Haines on “The Role of the Supreme Court in American Government and Politics, 1789-1935” and completed the manuscript of the second volume of Haines’ study after his death. “When the department was short-staffed because of war-time leaves in 1942, it invited him to join it, first as a lecturer, then advanced him through the academic ranks,” according to Crouch. Later, he received a Fulbright Research Fellowship to study in Oxford in 1949-50. Sherwood’s interests were in public law and political theory.
           
During his career, he took an early interest in Academic Senate service and served as vice chair and chair from 1958-60. He participated in several reorganizations of the Senate. During that time, he was also appointed department chairman, but his term was cut short when President Clark Kerr and Chancellor Franklin Murphy announced his appointment as vice chancellor for academic affairs. Gov. Pat Brown, Sr. appointed him to the board of the Western States Conference on Higher Education, where he served from 1958 to 1968.
           
Sherwood left the vice chancellorship in 1970 to return to teaching. However, the UC administration again called him back to serve as a special assistant to the UC president before he retired.
          
Sherwood, who received an honorary LL.D. from Colgate University in 1963, belonged to the American Association of International Law, Mount St. Mary’s College Board of Trustees (1969 to 1979), Phi Beta Kappa and the Society of International and Comparative Law.
           
Among his survivors are his wife Georgia Gage and his former wife, June Elizabeth Hallberg, their two sons, Foster H. Sherwood and John A. Sherwood, and two grandchildren.
          
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the UCLA Fund. Checks to the UCLA Fund may be mailed to Janet Burnett, UCLA Fund, 10920 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1400, Los Angeles, CA 90024.

Invited guests will be attending a March 14 memorial service for David Saxon, a UCLA physics professor who became president of UC and chairman of the corporation of MIT. Expected to speak at the 3 p.m. service at Royce Hall are Chancellor Albert Carnesale, UC President Robert C. Dynes and Chancellor Emeritus Charles E. Young, among others. Anyone with questions should contact Patricia Lippert, associate director of Special Events and Protocol, at (310) 794-8604 or tricial@support.ucla.edu.