Allan Goldberg Obituary

Goldberg M.D., Dr. Allan M. Passed away at St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights on November 13, 2011, a resident of Flossmoor since 1966 and practiced Internal Medicine in Homewood and Hazel Crest. Allan Goldberg was born in Chicago to Ralph and Anna Goldberg. He grew up in Lawndale, Albany Park and Hyde Par. He attended the University of Chicago, where he received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree with highest honors at the age of seventeen. Although he was deferred from military service because of having been admitted into medical school, he left school and enlisted in the United States Navy. After a year of study at Naval Research Lab in Washington D.C., Allan graduated first, in his class of one hundred and thirty five. Allan proudly served his country with honor aboard the aircraft carrier USS Badoeng Strait, where he managed radar, sonar, and electrical activities. Upon his discharge he received the WWII Victory Medal. After the war Allan returned to the University of Chicago where he met Miss Gretchen Hartmann, a brilliant and beautiful student from New York State. The pair developed a close relationship and later married in their senior year of medical school. Among other achievements, Gretchen discovered that a fatty diet was a major cause of stroke and heart attacks, while Allan performed research in diabetes and used radioactive iodine from the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge for treatment of thyroid disease. He also studied exfoliative cytology in the treatment of bowel cancer. Gretchen and Allan interned together and took residencies in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry. During her residency, a terrible mistake was made in the emergency room at Cincinnati General Hospital where Gretchen was in training; this mistake resulted in her developing a devastating disease, which caused her to develop incomplete quadriplegia from which she never fully recovered. Allan took her to New York University Hospital where she received intensive rehabilitation therapy for a year. Afterwards, Allan brought Gretchen home to Flossmoor, where with family help; he continued to lovingly care for her at home for 40 years. After the death of his beloved wife in 1993, Allan donated Goldberg Park, a wonderful children's park in Flossmoor, as well as a Professorship in Neurology at the University of Chicago in her memory. During this time Allan opened a practice of Internal Medicine in Homewood. Dr. Allan M. Goldberg served on the staff of Ingalls and St. James Hospitals. While Chief of Medicine at Ingalls hospital in 1968 he built the first Coronary Care Unit in the south suburban area. Among other distinctions, Allan was a member of the Chicago and Illinois Medical Society and of the American Medical Association. In 1996 Allan was a charter member of of the Harper Society, a major funding organization of the University of Chicago. Allan joyfully cared for his patients at Ingalls Hospital for 40 years until retirement in 2005. At the time of his death, Dr. Allan Goldberg made major gifts in his beloved wife Gretchen's memory. These gifts are intended to help support technology, patient care and research at the University of Chicago. Dr. Allan Goldberg was a wonderful doctor and friend. He was well known and loved in the Homewood=Flossmoor community, he will be sorely missed. Allan will be laid to rest in the Abraham Lincoln Nation Cemetery in Elwood, IL. Please contact Tews Funeral Home in Homewood for additional information. 708-798-0331.