Francis Eugene Gilbertson ’45

Frank died Aug. 10, 2005.

Frank prepared for Princeton at Columbia High in South Orange, N.J., and, along with roommates Rudy Eberstadt, Breck Stringer, and Monte Van Norden, joined Quadrangle Club. Frank accelerated his studies and received his Princeton degree in 1945, and then earned a medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia in 1949. He completed several general-surgical residencies in New York at Bellevue and St. Vincent's hospitals, and completed his military requirement at an Army hospital at Camp Pickett, Va., in 1952.

His distinguished 40-year career included staff appointments in New York and New Jersey, where he served as chief of surgery at Riverview in Red Bank from 1980 to 1985. In addition to military service in World War II and Korea, he was a volunteer surgeon through Project Vietnam from 1965 to 1966.

Frank is survived by his wife of 33 years, the former Susan Kleinhans, the daughter, sister, and niece of no fewer than four Princetonians; sons Frank, Mark, and Peter; daughter Alison McHeffey; stepsons Carl and Stephen deGersdoff; stepdaughter Susan Stamos; his sisters, Patricia Newhouse and Mary Kay Arliss; and seven grandchildren. The class expresses sympathy to all.

The Class of 1945