Philip Felig ’57

Phil Felig declared himself in our 50th-reunion yearbook the first Orthodox Jewish undergraduate at Princeton. Among the problems this caused for him were observing Jewish dietary laws and arranging to take exams scheduled for Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, on another day. “The University administration could not have been more sensitive in providing support for my needs,” Phil wrote. At Princeton Phil was a member of Prospect Club, the Glee Club, the Debating Society, and the Whig-Clio Speakers Bureau.

Attending Princeton “opened a whole new world for me, intellectually, culturally, and socially,” he added.

This new world led to three careers: professor of medicine at Yale for 14 years, president of Sandoz (now Novartis) Research Institute for three years, and then, a private practice in endocrinology in Manhattan. He continued his practice until he couldn’t, dying Aug. 16, 2020, at age 83 of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, survived by his wife, Florence, and a large family.

New York Magazine named Phil one of the “Best Doctors in New York” 10 times. His textbook Endocrinology and Metabolism was reprinted four times in several languages. Like some other classmate-physicians, he believed that, technological advances the past 50 years notwithstanding, listening to patients is as important as it ever was. He attributed “being a better person, husband, father, and grandfather, and physician” to having attended Princeton.