Marvin Epstein, long-time Walnut Creek resident and a leader of its medical community, died peacefully on August 11, 2016, after a long illness.
Marvin Epstein was born on June 14, 1923, in Sharon, Pennsylvania, to Samuel and Bess Epstein. His father worked for Golden Dawn Foods, the wholesale grocery business that was founded by his father-in-law. In 1939, Marvin was admitted to Harvard University at the age of sixteen. A high school teacher suggested that he was too young and immature to enter Harvard that fall and should do an interim year close to home. He and a cousin rented a room in Cleveland next to an aunt's apartment and attended classes at Adelbert College of Western Reserve University for a year before transferring to Harvard. Marvin received his B.S. degree cum laude from Harvard in 1943 and shortly after, received a draft notice. He failed the physical because of his chronic asthma, which allowed him to immediately pursue his goal of becoming a doctor. However, when Marvin applied for admission to medical school, he faced rejection from nearly every school where he applied because of the Jewish quota system in place at the time. He was eventually offered a position as a research fellow in physiology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and promised a place in the class of 1944. Marvin received his M.D. in 1948. After three more years at Rochester as an intern, research fellow, and assistant resident in medicine, he moved with his family-wife Mimi (Raben), daughter Judy (born 1947) and son Bill (born 1950)-to California to serve as resident in medicine at the Kaiser Permanente Foundation Hospital in Oakland. The family settled in Pleasant Hill and became active members of both the medical and Jewish communities. In 1951, they were among the founders of the Contra Costa Jewish Community Center, today's Temple Isaiah. In 1952, Marvin went into private practice in internal medicine with Harold S. Robinson in Walnut Creek. A year later, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and the family moved to Edgewood, Maryland, for two years.
Returning to Walnut Creek in 1955, Marvin's private medical practice began to expand. He became active in the campaign to build a community hospital in Walnut Creek. This became John Muir Medical Center, which opened its doors in 1965. Dr. Epstein held many positions of leadership at John Muir, including chief of staff, chairman of medicine, chairman of cardiology, member of the board of directors, and member of the John Muir Health Foundation board. He founded the Cardiac Care Unit and served as its medical director for many years. In 1987, Marvin was the first physician to receive the John Muir Health Foundation Award of Distinction for outstanding leadership, service, and philanthropy. In honor of his many years of service, in 2008 John Muir Medical Center named two conference rooms for him.
Marvin continued to practice internal medicine and cardiology in Walnut Creek until he retired in 1993. Marvin remained active in the medical community and devoted more time to his many hobbies and pastimes. He wrote a memoir and history of his many years in medicine-In Sickness and Health: The Progress of Medical Care in Contra Costa County, 1951-2000, which was published by the Contra Costa County Historical Society. Always interested in his family's history and genealogy, in 2009 he published a family history and memoir, A Modern Country Doctor. Other interests included fishing, gardening, travel, photography, theater, opera, and weekly lectures at the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning at the University of San Francisco. An inveterate New Yorker reader, he subscribed for at least 75 years. Always gregarious, positive, upbeat, and on the go-friends called him the "Energizer Bunny"--Marvin was an active member of the Medical Friends of Wine, the Rotary Club of Walnut Creek-he served as treasurer for several years--and enjoyed outings with his many grandchildren and, eventually, great-grandchildren.
Marvin Epstein is survived by Ruth (Oswalt), his wife of forty years, and his younger brother, Louis (Marlene), of Sharon, Pennsylvania, his daughter Judy (Todd) Epstein Endelman, son Bill (Susan) Epstein, Kathryn (Christopher) Sirr, Brian (Joanne) Hazen, grandchildren Michael (Nina) Endelman, Flora (Jonathan) Endelman Margolis, Joshua (Lorri), David (Heloisa), and Daniel Epstein, Kaitlyn, Nicole, and Zachary Hurd, Trevor and Nathan Hazen, great-grandchildren Miriam and Noa Endelman, Maya and Ari Margolis, Mason, Asher, and Bia Epstein, and his nephew and niece, Richard Epstein and Georgia Robinson.
Contributions in memory of Marvin A. Epstein can be made to Save Mount Diablo, Walnut Creek, California, The Friends of the Fromm Institute, San Francisco, or Temple Isaiah, Lafayette, California.