Richard Elliot Behrman, pediatrician, educator, and tireless advocate for child wellbeing, died peacefully in Santa Barbara on Sunday, May 17, surrounded by family. He was 88. Born in Philadelphia, Dr. Behrman graduated from Amherst College (AB, 1953), Harvard Law School (JD, 1956) and University of Rochester Medical School (MD, 1960). He met the love of his life, Ann Nelson, while in college and they were married in 1954. Partially inspired by Ann’s father, the late Waldo E Nelson who was sometimes called a “father of pediatrics”, he changed course from law to medicine, launching a career in academic medicine that carried him and his growing family back and forth across the US. Following pediatric residency and chief residency at Johns Hopkins that included time in the Public Health Service in San Juan and research at the NIH, he became a research and clinical faculty member at the Oregon Health Sciences University, then Vice-chair of Pediatrics at the University of Illinois, then Chair of Pediatrics at Columbia University, then Chair and subsequently Dean of Case Western Reserve Medical School. Along the way he authored countless studies of newborn physiology, earned the nation’s first board certification in Neonatology, and became editor of Nelson’s Textbook of Pediatrics.
Dr. Behrman inspired and mentored generations of medical students and physicians. His chief interests included perinatal medicine, pediatric intensive care, palliative care for terminally ill children, children’s health and social services, and related issues of public policy and ethics.
In 1989, he and Ann moved from Cleveland to San Francisco, where he was Director of the Center for the Future of Children, Senior Advisor for Health Affairs at the Packard Foundation, Board Chairman for the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford and UCSF. He continued as long-time Editor-in-Chief of Nelson’s Pediatrics and launched a new journal, The Future of Children. He was a founding member of the Vermont Oxford Network, a nonprofit collaboration of more than 1200 hospitals that provides data analysis and quality improvement guidance for neonatal care globally. Elected to the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine), he chaired several projects on child welfare, including, “Improving Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Children and Their Families” (2003), “Ethical Conduct of Clinical Research Involving Children” (2004), and “Pre-Term Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention” (2006). During the final phase of his active career, he became Executive Chair of the Education Steering Committee for the Federation of Pediatric Organizations, seeking and recommending best educational practices for the field he had served for almost 50 years. After the death of his beloved Ann, he retired to Santa Barbara with frequent visits to Nantucket where they had honeymooned in 1954. He is survived, loved and mourned by his and Ann’s four children and their partners, Amy Behrman (Robert Wilson), Michael Behrman (Sonia Behrman), Carolyn Behrman (Timothy Matney), and Hillary Behrman (Steven Johnson). He also leaves nine grandchildren who remember him as a staunch supporter and leader of beach trips and practical jokes, Thomas Wilson, Alice Wilson, Nicholas Behrman (Christina Behrman), Antonia Behrman, Jameson Behrman, Rowan Matney, Aidan Matney, Willa Johnson and Arlo Johnson, as well as a multitude of trainees and colleagues who continue his legacy of caring for child health so that all children may reach their full potential.
