He came to Princeton from Midwood High School in Brooklyn. He majored in chemistry, joined Prospect Club, was a member of Whig-Clio, served as associate editor of the Bric-a-Brac, graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and won the Milbank Memorial Scholarship Prize. He earned a medical degree from Harvard Medical School and pursued a research and clinical career treating infectious diseases. Neal had a profound impact on innumerable colleagues, medical students, and patients. His key posts included professor of medicine at the NYU School of Medicine and head of the Division of Infectious Diseases and professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine-Montefiore Medical Center. He was also a contributing editor for the Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics for more than 40 years.
Neal is survived by his life partner, Marian Unterman; his former wife, Ellen Jarvis Steigbigel; children Matthew and Amy; daughter-in-law Jennifer Buesser; and grandchildren Nathaniel and Anya.
Neal was a staunch supporter of the class and a Princeton advocate. As he wrote for our 50th-reunion yearbook, “Princeton remains an anchor of excellence, balance and integrity in our often confusing and irrational world.”