In Memoriam - Dr. Rudolf Jakob “Rudy” Utzschneider

Rudolf Jakob “Rudy” Utzschneider, MD, age 92, passed away at home in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, on January 12, 2023.

Those who knew Rudy, and especially those who worked with him (as did I), saw a man of exceptional intelligence and skill as well as a clarity of thought and razor-sharp ethics who, fortunately for everyone, was willing to take on big things. What follows is a snapshot of those things from his obituary.

Born in Munich, Germany on March 28, 1930, Rudy was raised in Bavaria and, as a child during World War II, he hid in basements during bombing raids.

At age 18, he entered medical school, and five years later he graduated a summa cum laude Doctor of Medicine (MD)from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. In 1954, he interned at the Elizabeth, New JerseyGeneral Hospital. He also met a smart and witty young nurse anesthetist, Patricia “Pat” Edridge, and, a year later, they married. They spent a year in Germany before settling in Worcester, where Rudy began a residency in general surgery at Saint Vincent Hospital.

In 1960, Rudy and Pat moved to Shrewsbury, where they lived for 60 years and raised nine children. They loved listening to opera, classical music, and jazz, and Rudy was an accomplished pianist and saxaphone player. Rudy and Pat also loved to dance. The whole family joined Rudy and Pat as parishioners at St. Mary’s Church for 60 years.

In 1960, Rudy became the sixth physician to join the Fallon Clinic, a Worcester multispecialty group (now Reliant). For 22 years he helped grow the organization and was instrumental in its expansion, overseeing the move from a house on Institute Road to a building many times larger on Plantation Street. He served as treasurer for many years.

He practiced general and vascular surgery at Saint Vincent Hospital for almost 40 years, where he served as a member of the Executive Committee and Chief of Staff. He loved teaching, and served as Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (now UMass Chan Medical School. In 1982, Rudy and Pat decided to build their own private practice and they opened offices in both Worcester and Clinton. Rudy retired from private practice in 1998.

In 1989, Rudy was elected Chair of the Board of Central Massachusetts Health Care, Inc., a physician-initiated, not-for-profit HMO, where he played a critical role in their development and growth. He helped start the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, where he served as a Founding Director.

The focus, dedication, and dexterity that made Rudy an exceptional surgeon also made him a prolific woodworker. Rudy always whistled while he worked, content to be working with his hands, making gifts for the people he loved.

He also loved “messing around with boats.” Rudy and Pat sailed the waters of New England as well as reaching as far as Florida and the Bahamas. A boat was the perfect vehicle to bring together many of his passions: a sense of adventure, navigating towards a goal, dealing with the unexpected, working together with family, teaching, and working with his hands.

Rudy joined the Worcester District Medical Society and the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1961. +

B. Dale Magee, MD