蜜桃社

Obituaries

Recent Obituaries
In Memoriam Archive

Alan Holtzman ’43

November 28, 2018, in Los Angeles, California.

Alan was born in Portland, Oregon, the youngest of five children. He got his bachelor of science degree in biology from Reed and his MD from the University of Oregon. He met his wife, Roberta, in Portland in 1949, and they had their first child, Jeffrey, in 1951.

During the Korean War, Alan served in the army as a pediatrician for children of military personnel stationed in Japan. After the war, he moved his family to Los Angeles, where his daughter Elizabeth was born. He helped found Northridge Hospital, where he served as chief of staff, maintaining his private pediatric practice and serving as an adjunct professor at UCLA. After retiring, he began a second career conducting groundbreaking research in a variety of areas.

Alan’s empathy, wisdom, and compassion were matched only by his razor-sharp wit. It was monumentally important to him that you not “call him Shirley.” In addition to his love for medicine, he was an artist who taught himself to carve wood and stone. During his lifetime, he lost his son, wife, and daughter-in-law. He is survived by his daughter, Elizabeth.

Appeared in Reed magazine: June 2019