In Memoriam: Robert Arnold Sherry, MD ( - April 17, 2024)
Bob, one of those rare, native Seattlelites, entered U.W. medical school, after first completing a degree in zoology. His was the fifth graduating class after U.W.'s medical school was established. A rotating internship followed at the University of Chicago where, before air conditioning, with hospital windows wide open, bats were seen flying up and down hallways after dark!
Following this internship, Bob was drafted into the U.S. Navy, where, as a newly minted young doc, he found himself suddenly in charge of several hundred men - being the sole doctor onboard the Sixth Fleet's flagship.
He met his future wife, Lisa, on the Mediterranean island of Rhodes, and they were married a year later in Copenhagen, her hometown.
Bob briefly joined Group Health in 1958, but left to enter an anesthesiology residency at Tacoma General Hospital under the renowned John, J. Bonica (later head of U.W.'s department of anesthesiology). Bob, however, realized that he missed his personal contact with patients, and decided to return to general practice and started practice at Group Health's beautiful Northgate clinic. At this time, Group Health had only one hospital, located on Capitol Hill, and a grand total of 50 doctors on staff. He finished his decades of practicing medicine at the newly built Bothell clinic.
Bob was an avid carpenter and built a beautiful summer home on Nelson Island, British Columbia, where his love of the natural world found full expression. In his several Washington homes he added beauty by creating spectacular gardens for which he chose almost exclusively native species.
Bob's own philosophical sense of a fair and efficient system for the delivery of solid medical care was upmost in his satisfaction of having spent his medical career at Group Health.
Bob's 94-year old life ended peacefully in his beautiful home in Bellingham with those he loved near. A gathering of family and friends will take place this mid summer in his own flower-filled garden.
