Brooke Roberts ’39

Brooke died of cancer Feb. 23, 2003, in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He had been a leading vascular surgeon for more than four decades at the hospital of the U. of Pennsylvania. Except for service in the Army Medical Corps from 1944-1946, he spent his entire career in the university's department of surgery. Working at the frontiers of vascular surgery, a previously undeveloped area, he helped perfect the surgical treatment of aortic aneurysms, obstructed femoral and carotid arteries, and later actively pushed the development of angioplasty as a less invasive treatment for vascular disease. He trained two generations of vascular surgeons while holding positions of leadership in countless local and national medical societies. In 1982 he received the Strittmatter Award given annually by the Philadelphia County Medical Society to the physician who has made the greatest contribution to Philadelphia medicine. The U. of Pennsylvania named its surgical research laboratories for him and has an endowed surgical chair in his honor.

Anna Ingersoll Roberts, Brooke's wife of 58 years, survives, as do their three sons, Jared '68, Andrew '70, and Thomas '75, and seven grandchildren. With them we give thanks for the life Brooke shared with us.

The Class of 1939