In Memoriam

Surgery Icon Seymour Schwartz Dies at 92

As one of America’s most distinguished surgeons, Seymour I. Schwartz, MD (Res ’57), edited and co-wrote the textbook used to teach generations of young doctors. He led the surgical societies that shaped the profession and remained influential well into his later years by continuing to write, teach, and commit his time to physicians in Rochester and across the globe. Schwartz, 92, died August 28, 2020, at the home of his son in St. Louis, Mo.

His storied career began at the University of Rochester, where he finished residency in 1957 after serving in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, and then joined the faculty. For the next 60 years he cultivated expertise in hepatobiliary surgery and other complex operations and rose through the ranks of academic medicine. He served as chair of Surgery at the University from 1987 to 1998 and director of Surgical Research for 20 years.

Most notably, he edited and co-authored Schwartz’s Principles of Surgery during the years in which his own career was advancing. Known as “the surgeon’s Bible,” it was unique for being rooted in basic science.

The first edition—1,850 pages, 52 chapters, and written in a single voice—was published by McGraw-Hill in 1969; it is now in its 11th edition.

“Holding the Seymour Schwartz Distinguished Professorship in Surgery is the most important honor any surgeon could receive,” said David Linehan, MD, URMC Chair of Surgery. “For leaders in our field, Sy is the aspirational mentor we all want to emulate. His towering intellect, spirit of collegiality, indefatigable work ethic, unending curiosity, and enduring relevance set the bar so high. We may never achieve his heights but, based on his embodiment of excellence, we will all keep trying.”

Although Schwartz retired from the operating room at age 72, he, over the next 20 years, was often found in his office at the Medical Center, usually writing and reading. Colleagues visited to learn from his vast experience and intellect, joking that their brilliant mentor had “flunked” retirement.

Recent years were filled with accolades, including the American College of Surgeons (ACS) naming him, in 2017, an Icon of Surgery. He received the University’s Eastman Medal in 2018.

“When the American College of Surgeons honored Dr. Schwartz, they provided yet another national affirmation of what we here at URMC have always known,” said Mark Taubman, MD, CEO of URMC and dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry. “Dr. Schwartz was quite simply a giant in both his field and in the life of our institution, where he was an approachable, gracious, and insightful guide to generations of physicians who drew on the deep experience and knowledge that he so willingly shared. I count myself among those he mentored. We will miss him dearly!”

Schwartz is remembered fondly by those who worked with him over the years. He was an important catalyst in the career of Craig Smith, MD, who trained as a surgical resident at URMC and went on to become chair of Surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/ Columbia University Medical Center.

Schwartz and Smith co-authored several papers during Smith's research gap year in the late 1970s; as a mentor, Schwartz was "very outspoken, candid, and just so intelligent that it was always worth it," Smith said. "He was just a very multi-talented person and sharp as a tack."

Schwartz served as president of the country’s three most important surgical societies: the Society of Clinical Surgery, the American Surgical Association, and the American College of Surgeons. He was editorin-chief of Contemporary Surgery for 28 years, the Yearbook of Surgery for 22 years, and the Journal of the American College of Surgeons for 10 years.

In his later years, Schwartz became more deeply interested in the humanities and was committed to capturing the best things about the practice of medicine. Fascinated by physicians who had become literary figures, he profiled some of the nation’s finest in his book From Medicine to Manuscript, published in 2018.

The son of Jewish immigrants, Schwartz grew up in the Bronx and attended public schools. Yale University accepted him for undergraduate studies, but he could not afford to go there, instead attending the University of Wisconsin on a scholarship. He completed his degree in just two years and went on to medical school, earning his degree at New York University.

Professional achievements aside, Schwartz said that his “biggest contribution in life” was his family. His three sons are Richard, director of aviation operations at Enterprise Rent-A-Car; Kenneth, founding director of the Phyllis Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane University; and David, MD, PhD, a cardiologist and associate professor at Washington University School of Medicine. His wife, Ruth, who died in 1999, was a pioneer in obstetrics and gynecology. They married while in medical school and, as interns, moved to Rochester and chose to stay.

It was Ruth who introduced Schwartz to cartography as a hobby. He became an avid collector of rare and historically significant maps and was a noted international expert on the mapping of the New World. He wrote six books on cartography, declaring during an interview that he had “developed a life of schizoid scholarship.” He served on the Board of Trustees of the Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution and was a member of the Advisory Board of the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress. Some of his maps are housed in the Dr. Ruth W. Schwartz and Dr. Seymour I. Schwartz Collection in the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation on the River Campus.

He learned to play the accordion while in the Navy, wrote lyrics for the UR School of Medicine and Dentistry’s annual student musical production, and composed special limericks for each graduate of the surgical residency program.

In addition to his beloved sons and grandchildren, Schwartz is survived by his sister, Lynn Rosen, EdD, of Rochester, and devoted companion, Lyn Kayser, also of Rochester.

Alumnus Robert L. Brent, MD, remembered for his generosity, distinguished career

Robert L. Brent ('48, MD '53, PhD '55, Hnr '88), renowned researcher and generous alumnus, passed away on February 24, 2021, at the age of 93.

“We have lost a brilliant man and a true visionary,” said Mark B. Taubman, MD, CEO of URMC and Dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry (SMD). “Bob was a world leader in environmental toxicology research, and his work changed the field of pediatrics. He and his wife, Lillian, were also incredibly committed to giving back and to helping students begin their medical careers unencumbered by debt. Their generosity will impact our students forever.”

For 30 years, Brent was chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at The Jefferson Medical College; his was one of the lengthiest pediatric chairmanships in the U.S. He was the leading authority on the effects of radiation on embryos and on the environmental causes of birth defects and cancer, and had the unusual record of receiving continuous federal research funding as a principal investigator for his entire career.

In 2005, the Brents, who met as undergraduates at the University, established the Alumni Tuition Free Program Fund, which creates a scholarship in the name of each graduating SMD class. Their vision was for alumni to give to their class fund over the years, creating increasingly larger scholarships, with the long-term goal of completely endowing tuition for the school. In recognition of their generosity, the Robert L. & Lillian H. Brent White Coat Ceremony, during which incoming medical students are formally inducted into SMD, is named in their honor.

An active and enthusiastic volunteer for the school, Brent served on the SMD National Council, the SMD Alumni Council, and multiple campaign committees. In 2008, he received the University’s Distinguished Alumnus Award, in recognition of the national and global impact of his research.

Brent was predeceased by Lillian, who died in 2020. He is survived by their children David Brent, Lawrence Brent, and Deborah Foster, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and extended relatives. Lillian and Robert Brent

To learn more about the Alumni Tuition Free Program, visit uofr.us/smdtuitionfree.

Word has reached us of the passing of the following alumni and friends. The School of Medicine and Dentistry expresses its sympathy to their loved ones.

(August 1, 2019, to October 30, 2020)

Bobby R. Adcock (MS ’64) H. Vasken Aposhian (MS ’51, PhD ’54) Lawrence Dennis Aronson (MD ’66) Richard E. Behrman (MD ’60) Robert L. Beilman (Res ’56) Timothy G. Benson (MD ’00) Neil J. Boger (MD ’53, Res ’58) Douglas G. Boyden (MS ’60) Bolek Brant-Zawadzki (MD ’65) Stephen J.A. Bruny (Res ’56) Richard Arthur Cockington (MS ’79) Frank Chafel (Res ’59) Gordon Comstock (Res ’80) Guerdon J. Coombs (MD ’58) Morris S. Dixon (MD ’51) John Henry Drexler (PhD ’60) David Eisenberg (Res ’56) Neil J. Elgee (MD ’50) Herman L. Falsetti (’57, MD ’60) Harold James Forbes (MD ’69, Res ’76) William Foresman (Res ’98) Irwin N. Frank (’50, MD ’54, Res ’59) Frank Michael Ganis (’49, PhD ’56) Harold H. Gardner (MD ’65, Res ’66) Donald M. Garland (MD ’60) Arthur Leonard Golding (MD ’59) Bernard L. Haertjens (MS ’61) James B. Hanshaw (Res ’58) Erwin Lee Hoffman (Res ’57) Joel B. Holland (’73, MD ’77) William E. Jackson (MD ’58) Kathryn (Eustance) Kern (MD ’56) Joan Evelyn Kinlan (Res ’73) Michael T. Lategola (PhD ’56) Hobart Abraham Lerner (Res ’49) Archie A. MacKinney (MD ’55) William Norwood Michal (Res ’62) George R. Miller (’41, MD ’43) Masako (Morimoto) Nakae (MS ’53) Michael Francis O’Hara (MD ’75) David Austin Ohlwiler (MD ’54) Michael J. Perley (Res ’64) Ralph A. Pincus (Res ’63) Alan Paul Poland (MD ’65, MS ’66) Donald Rankin (MD ’66) Jan A. Riegl (MD ’62) Scott Lee Rosenfeld (MD ’92) Nasser Sabokbar (Res ’62) Albert P. Scheiner (Res ’58) Raymond A. Schneider (’48, MD ’52) Seymour Ira Schwartz (Res ’57) Walter L. Seibyl (MS ’56) Melinda Anne (Borrello) Sharma (’91, MD ’93, PhD ’96) Burton Siefe (MD ’56) Theodore R. Simon (Res ’76) Philip H. Smith (MS ’53) Richard L. Stieg (MD ’63) James MacDonald Stormont (Res ’56) Henry Armstrong Thiede (’45, Res ’56) Robert A. Watson (MD ’53) Stanley Willner (MD ’54)