Family, friends and colleagues will join at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 22, 2011, in Zidell Hall at Rose Schnitzer Manor, 6140 S.W. Boundary St., Portland, to celebrate the life of Dr. Eric Liberman, who died May 1, 2011, at age 89. Dr. Liberman was born in Tulsa, Okla., to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents. After his mother Rachel Caplan's death from encephalitis in 1924, his father Maurice relocated the family to Brookline, Mass. Eric graduated Harvard College magna cum laude and in 1945 received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. He served as a U.S. Army Medical Officer in Japan from 1945 to 1947, the beginning of his lifelong fascination with Asian history and culture. In 1948-49 Dr. Liberman served a medical residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Mass., where previously he had been an intern. There he met nurse Suzanne Schwartz; the pair wed after a brief, intense courtship, remaining together for the next 62 years. After further medical residencies at West Roxbury VA Hospital and Boston VA Hospital, Dr. Liberman served state-side in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps during the Korean Conflict. As a Doctor of Internal Medicine he maintained a private practice in Torrington, Conn., until 1959. Then, breaking with convention, he relocated with his family to Portland to become a Kaiser Permanente physician. He served with distinction at Bess Kaiser Hospital and the Kaiser Beaverton Clinic for 27 years, retiring in 1986. Knowing that patients' lives depended upon his knowledge and skill, Eric strove to be the best doctor possible throughout his career, devoting serious effort to staying abreast of new developments in medical technology and clinical practice. After receiving Board Certification as a specialist in Endocrinology and Metabolism in 1973, he taught until 1979 as an Affiliate Associate Professor in the Endocrinology Division of the Oregon Health & Science University Department of Medicine. Eric will be remembered for his penetrating intellect and dry, subtle wit. Having sought solace in books as a young boy, he remained a lifelong learner hungering for the latest knowledge in medicine, biology, astrophysics, history, geopolitics and economics. He relaxed with mystery novels and spy fiction, and shared with his wife a great fondness for operatic, symphonic and chamber music. He loved the outdoors, and traveled widely with Suzanne throughout Asia, Europe and the Middle East. His typically exhaustive pre-trip research enabled him to find unique experiences and destinations known only to locals or insiders. In his declining years Eric remained intellectually and culturally active and very much enjoyed the company of his extended family in Portland. He was a loyal husband and an inspiration to his sons; he lovingly welcomed his daughters-in-law into the family, and doted on his grandchildren. All of them were with him at the end. Eric is fondly remembered by Suzanne, his wife of 62 years; son Adam and daughter-in-law Gemma Whelan; and son Lev, daughter-in-law Joan, and grandchildren Max and Melantha. He has been laid to rest at Ahavai Sholom Cemetery alongside his daughter, Martha Ann, who died in 1966.

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A funeral for Dr. Liberman was held Monday, May 2, 2011, at Ahavai Sholom Cemetery. Dr. Liberman is survived by his wife, Suzanne; son, Adam and his wife, Gemma Whelan; son, Lev and his wife, Joan; and granchildren, Max and Melantha Liberman.

Published in The Oregonian
on May 4, 2011