Dr. Bertrand L. Stolzer
August 17, 2021
Dr. Bertrand Lubell Stolzer, 95, A Science Kid from the Bronx and
a Pioneer in the Treatment of Rheumatic Diseases
Dr. Bertrand Lubell Stolzer passed away at the age of 95 on August 17, 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was born on September 4, 1925 in New York City to the late Harry and Rose (née Lubell) Stolzer. He grew up as an “apartment house kid” (as he put it) in the Bronx at 1711 Davidson Avenue, near Featherbed Lane where, as the story goes, George Washington walked his troops down in the dead of winter and the tenants threw feathers out to keep the troops from slipping on the icy cobblestones as they marched. That was long before he was born, of course, but the merchants on the busy lane carried the story forward for kids like my father to hear. He visited there often with his mother, Rose, as she shopped for freshly killed chicken for Shabbat, cold creamed herring for Harry, lox, bagels, freshly baked cookies and other delicacies, buying each item from a different merchant. He was the only child of Harry and Rose. Harry had been the owner of a handful of parking garages on the swanky Upper East side of Manhattan near Karl Shurz Park and Gracie Mansion in Yorkville, where countless Mayors have resided. All but one of the garages were gone by the time Bert was born in 1925 and from then on, Harry owned and worked in only one such garage. Rose was a bookkeeper for her father’s uniform business in New York’s garment district. Rose’s father made uniforms for sailors. Harry had eight siblings, Rose had seven, and so there were a great many aunts, uncles and cousins that were part of Bert’s Bronx childhood. There was also baseball. In his words: It was a great physical experience to grow up in an apartment building in a Bronx neighborhood. There were at least three teams for each sport, and you were alerted to a ball game going on when you heard the sounds of the ball hitting the gloves of the kids in the street outside. There were loads of neighborhood kids. I got a street education in many ways. It gave my father a break because he didn’t have to worry about giving me sex education as a teenager.
Bertrand was an “A” student, who skipped several grades prior to being enrolled in the second class of students to enter the Bronx High School of Science. There he developed a deep and enduring love and respect for science, the scientific method, evolution and the animal kingdom. He further cultivated these interests at the Bronx Zoo, where he spent after school and weekend time volunteering. He graduated from The Bronx High School of Science in 1942, earned his B.S. and M.D. from New York University in 1945 and 1947, graduating Phi Betta Kappa, and completed his residencies at Bellevue and Goldwater Hospitals. He married the late Pearl (née Peterman) in 1949 shortly before his induction as a Captain in the United States Air Force. He completed basic training at Gunter Air Force Base in Huntsville, Alabama and earned a fellowship in the Department of Preventative Medicine at Western Reserve University, now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, which landed him on a team of researchers at the Streptococcal Disease Laboratory of the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. There, under the leadership of Dr. Charles H. Rammelkamp, the Strep Lab team produced eight research papers and received the Albert Lasker Award for their research findings.
In 1955, Bertrand and his growing family moved to Pittsburgh, PA where he practiced rheumatology for more than 60 years at the H.M. Margolis & Associates Group, at St. Margaret Memorial Hospital and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). In collaboration with his colleague, the late Dr. Carl Eisenbeis, he founded the Doris Palmer Arthritis Center at St. Margaret Memorial Hospital. In 1978, after 29 years of marriage, his wife Pearl passed away. He later married the late Shirley (née Zimmerman) Lederman, adding her three children to his family. In a true New York story, following the passing of his wife Shirley, at the age of 88, he and Dolores Mannix Ryan rekindled a relationship that they had when she was a young nurse, and he a young medical resident, at Bellevue Hospital more than 60 years earlier. They both considered themselves lucky to have found each other after such a long time, and they enjoyed some wonderful times together in the few years prior to her passing.
Although Bertrand lived in Pittsburgh for almost 70 years, New York City remained a large part of his soul. He read the New York Times every day up to and including the day he died; he loved New York Cheesecake, Chocolate Egg Creams from corner soda fountains in the Bronx; and Broadway stage and film productions by Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Neil Simon and Billy Crystal. He also enjoyed listening to classical, folk and jazz music by Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, and The New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band. He loved animals, and supported charities to save gorillas, chimpanzees, elephants and sea turtles. He also loved sports. He was an avid baseball fan who attended New York Yankees games as a youth, seeing Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio from the outfield bleachers at Yankee Stadium, and then a Pittsburgh Pirates fan who watched the late Roberto Clemente win two championships. For 25 years, he enjoyed visiting Cape Cod National Seashore each summer with his children and grandchildren. Bertrand loved his family, friends, practicing medicine, his patients and each of his 11 dogs throughout his 95 years of life.
If you asked him what his passion was though, he would say it was his career as a physician. Bert devoted his life to his career as a physician. In his words: In Pittsburgh, I was privileged to have a top-quality internal medicine and Rheumatology practice caring for arthritic patients in a group of seven physicians who enjoyed our interrelationships, medically and socially. The seven of us were from the full range of political beliefs across the political spectrum, but we shared a common bond in striving to provide top-notch medical care to our patients and to help them to benefit from the latest rheumatological achievements and research. It was a wonderful experience that I am grateful to have had. St. Margaret’s and, later, UPMC, were wonderful hosts for our group practice.
This passion motivated him to rise religiously each day at 5:00 AM to arrive for hospital rounds by 6:00 AM, arriving before the young rheumatology residents he taught. Those residents were also his passion. He continued to work with them until the age of 89, years after he had stopped seeing patients.
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Bertrand is survived by his children: Janice (late Andrew Morrison) of Cleveland, Susan (late Nathan Fishbach) of Milwaukee, Daniel (Julie) Stolzer of Lancaster, PA; stepchildren: Maury (Lynda) Lederman of Boston, Ruth (Tim) Heeren of Boston and Hal (Sharon Saltzman) Lederman of Pittsburgh; his grandchildren: Dr. Amy Zack, Peter (Kristin) Morrison, Ben Morrison, Jeffrey (Erica) Fishbach, Brian Fishbach, Michael Fishbach, Rachel Stolzer, Hanna Stolzer, Eli (Meg) Lederman, Dr. Molly (Dr. Eli) Miloslavski, Emily Heeren, Aliza Heeren, Craig Lederman, and Matthew Lederman; and many great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to: The Bert Stolzer Arthritis Fund at UPMC St. Margaret, 815 Freeport Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15215. The Fund was established in his honor by his children, to create the Bertrand Stolzer Arthritis Center at UPMC St. Margaret Hospital, to further their Dad’s lifelong passion for medicine and desire to enhance arthritis education in Western Pennsylvania, specifically by helping to make resources available for patient care and resident training at UPMC St. Margaret Hospital.
Or alternatively, donate to “The Bronx Zoo” at: Wildlife Conservation Society, 2300 Southern Blvd., Bronx, NY 10460. Please reference Dr. Stolzer with your donation. If you would like to give online, please use the WCS Tribute Giving page to do so.
Arrangements entrusted to Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA.
Due to COVID-19 Pandemic, a Private Interment will be restricted to family.
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Ted and I have known your father and grandfather for over 50 years! We have sweet memories of him. We know how close your family is and will continue to be and will treasure this amazing man who has touched each and every one of you in his own unique way.
God Bless you all!
He knew how loved he was and that is the biggest gift you all gave him!
Xxxooo
Cindy and Ted
By Cindy and Ted Senko - August 19, 2021
We all want to celebrate Bert\'s life and all his accomplishments. While on the staff at St. Margaret, he taught me and countless others day after day. Enumerating the patients he helped through painful diseases is not possible. We all missed his help from the day he retired, and since then we have actually never recovered the same intensity of arthritis education and treatment we had in his years with us. My best to all in his family, Don
By Don Middleton - August 19, 2021
We all want to celebrate Bert's life and all his accomplishments. While on the staff at St. Margaret, he taught me and countless others day after day. Enumerating the patients he helped through painful diseases is not possible. We all missed his help from the day he retired, and since then we have actually never recovered the same intensity of arthritis education and treatment we had in his years with us. My best to all in his family, Don
By Don Middleton - August 19, 2021
I am so very sorry for your loss, a wonderful and caring man. He always had a smile. Memory eternal.
By Jan Zerbe - August 19, 2021
I am so very sorry for your loss, a wonderful and caring man. He always had a smile. Memory eternal.
By Jan Zerbe - August 19, 2021
I am so sadden to hear of Berns passing - he was a wonderful and gentle man whom I remember dearly while growing up - traveling from PA to all of the family gatherings. Really a wonderful person whom I always looked forward to seeing with all of the Stiller clan and whom I’ll miss dearly. Much Love - Joshua Kuvin
By Joshua Kuvin - August 19, 2021
Bert was a neighbor on Main Entrance for many years. I remember Pearl collecting for the March of Dimes.
Shirley was a wonderful person and always made Shabbat dinners for the family. Bert would be out early with a dog or two before he left for work.
Wonderful, kind people. They had a beautiful life.
By Ellie Bahm - August 19, 2021