Obituaries
The College notes the passing of Herbert Rothenberg, MD, MACP, and Alexander Sloan Townes, MD, MACP.
Herbert Rothenberg, MD, MACP
Herbert (Herb) Rothenberg, MD, MACP, died Oct.7, 2024.
Dr. Rothenberg served as Governor for ACP's Colorado Chapter from 1989 to 1993 and became an MACP in 1999.
Dr. Rothenberg graduated from the Bronx High School of Science at age 16 and was admitted to study at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on a track scholarship. He subsequently transferred to the University of Chicago where he earned a Bachelor of Science at age 20. Three years later, he received his MD from the University of Chicago School of Medicine.
Dr. Rothenberg completed residencies in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Boston's New England Center Hospital and the University of Chicago Medical School. He became chief resident of medicine at Denver General Hospital and later served as captain in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. When he returned, he joined the clinical faculty of the University of Colorado Medical School.
Dr. Rothenberg was appointed by the Governor of Colorado to serve on the board of the Colorado Uninsurable Health Insurance Program, which became Cover Colorado. He was a member of the Colorado Commission for the Medically Underinsured and volunteered extensively throughout his life.
A full obituary is online.
Alexander Sloan Townes, MD, MACP
Alexander (Alex) Sloan Townes, MD, MACP, died Oct. 24, 2024.
Dr. Townes served as Governor for the Tennessee Chapter, received the chapter's Laureate Award in 1994, and became an MACP in 2003.
Dr. Townes graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., in 1950 and received his MD from Vanderbilt in 1953. He spent a year of internship at Vanderbilt Hospital before joining the U.S. Air Force as a captain in 1954. After two years, he returned to Vanderbilt for more medical training in internal medicine and completed his residency in 1959. He then completed three years of fellowship training in rheumatology at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, where he joined the faculty in 1961.
In 1972, he became professor, associate chair of medicine, and chief of rheumatology at the University of Tennessee at Memphis. Dr. Townes was appointed chief of medicine at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Memphis and associate director of the residency training program at the University of Tennessee in 1985. Two years later he returned to Nashville as professor and associate dean for Veterans Affairs and chief of staff for the Nashville VA hospital. In 1999, Dr. Townes was awarded the Phillip Hench Award for excellence in rheumatology by the Association of Military Surgeons. He retired in 2000 and was made professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University.
A full obituary is online.
