Arlan Rosenbloom's Obituary
Arlan Rosenbloom, former professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Florida, died at home in Gainesville, Florida, on January 20, 2024, at the age of 89.
Arlan was born at the height of the depression into a working class Jewish family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In that very different era, Arlan would ride shotgun with his father as they delivered milk by horse and cart. The family moved to Madison in 1945 and the family business became a grocery store, where Arlan developed a strong work ethic. He worked a number of jobs throughout high school, with construction being his main consideration for his future career. But after landing a job as an orderly in his senior year in high school, he shifted his focus to becoming a doctor.
Arlan never said he was a good student, but felt it was his hard work that got him through. It was in his last year of med school, working in a hospital in Eau Claire, that he met a certain lab tech, a beautiful young Scandinavian woman. He and Edith soon bonded over a love of opera and discovered a shared adventurous spirit. Soon Arlan was graduating, and after only a few months of Edith keeping him company through the long nights on call, he asked her to go to Los Angeles with him. To Edith's surprise, after saying yes to running away with him, she realized it was a proposal of marriage.
And with that, their adventure began. They were soon recruited by the idealistic and well known Dr. Tom Dooley to build a hospital in rural Cambodia, and so from Hollywood he left with his new bride in 1959 for the far east. And then again, after many years of further study at the University of Wisconsin to become an endocrinologist, he was drafted by the World Health Organization to be part of smallpox eradication in west Africa in ’66. In 1968 he was hired by the University of Florida to develop a department of pediatric endocrinology, directing it for 50 years, while continuing his work internationally, with doctor exchange programs from Cuba and South America to Russia and Palestine, as well as dozens of other studies, research, and consulting, from New Orleans after Katrina, to the mountains of Ecuador.
The list of his accomplishments, awards, publications, and activism is too long to publish here. He chose his career well and dedicated himself fully to it, becoming integral to the development of the field of pediatric endocrinology in the twentieth century.
Arlan grew up in a time where the hope and promise of America was entwined with the hope and promise of a new world, where disease was being vanquished and the condition of humanity improving. He felt himself part of this bold mission, feeling a responsibility to take the gifts of being American in that time out to the world. That missionary zeal was central to Arlan's character and drive. He maintained his dedication to service to the very end of his life.
Arlan was predeceased by his older brother Avron (“Bud”) in 2019 and daughter Maliah in 2023. He is survived by Edith, his wife of more than 65 years; son Eric, daughter-in-law Joanna Lake, and grandson Lucien; Maliah’s son Galileo Zen; daughter Disa Halbach and granddaughter Thea; and son Harris and granddaughter Etta Rose.
A memorial will be held in celebration of his long and illustrious career at the Earl and Christy Powell University House, 2151 W University Ave, Gainesville, FL. March 23rd at 2 pm.
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