Robert S. Walbaum M.D....Class of 1954

Ever since James Madison High School began turning out graduates, back in the 20's, a steady stream of highly educated
and totally competent young people began joining the various professions including medicine, engineering, law, the arts, religion, science, military, etc. The contributions to the community, the state and the nation were priceless and have been so since the very beginning.
One of those graduates who entered the medical field was
Robert S. Waldbaum, M.D. now clinical Professor of Urology at the Cornell University Medical College. Doctor Waldbaum is also Chairman Emeritus of the Urology Dept on Long Island's
North Shore University Hospital.

Bob's early education involved a lot of saying goodbye ahead of schedule. He attended P.S. 197 and left early after the 6th grade in 1949. Then it was off to Cunningham JHS, grades 7-9, leaving early in 1952. Then he moved over to our favorite High School, Madison from 1952 thru 1954. He was to graduate in 1955 but because he was awarded a Ford Foundation Scholarship, he left Madison at the end of 1954 to attend Columbia College. He graduated from there in 1958 qand went on to the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, gettin g his M.D., degree in 1962 and completing his internship a year later. Then it was off to the Marines for two years, serving as Battalion Surgeon of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marines Division, in Okinawa and concluding his service at the Quantico Naval Hospital in 1965.
After all that, Bob completed his surgical residency at Columbia in 1966 and an additional 4 year residency in urology in 1970 at Cornell. Then it was one more round of "goodbyes" as he left in 1970 to move to Manhasset, Long Island New York to begin private practice.
Now, one might think that after a hectic schedule like that, one might want to slow down a bit. but this is not the case with Bob.
For example.......
Bob has just been appointed to the Medical Advisory Board of the Florence and Robert Rosen family Wellness Center for Law Enforcement and military personnel and their families.
He has just been awarded the William P. Didush Art and History award by the American Urological Center.
He was selected as Best Doctor of the USA from 2001 to 2007 and best Cancer Doctor in the USA from 2004 to 2007.
He has been a recipient of the National Kidney Foundation John Kingsley Lattimer Award for excellence in Research, Teaching & Patient Care. The list of awards, honors and other professional recognition goes on and on and to list them all might mean you would spend so much time reading them, you would miss celebrating two of your own birthdays.
But this next achievement is truly over the top....literally and figuratively. In 2006, Bob and his wife Ruth, a psychiatrist, completed a climb across the Himalayas in Bhutan.
Much of the climb was at almost 86 hundred feet above sea level. What followed was amazing especially for a man of 68 years of age.
A few days after returning home, Bob complained of feeling "puny" but he continued with his busy surgical schedule. Then it was out to dinner where he felt tired and lost his appetite and this was definitely out of the ordinary, so it was off to the North Shore University Hospital Emergency room and after a series of tests,it was found he had experienced a tear in his aortic wall which interrupted the flow of blood.This was serious big time and is life threatening. A surgical team was rapidly put together and off they all went to the OR. The surgery took about 11 hours and was deemed a success,two weeks later, Bob was home recuperating. So, is he now a couch potato? Not on your life. He has resumed his full surgical schedule and on any given Sunday, you will find him jogging several miles, swimming some 30 laps or so, playing 18 holes of golf and is also often found on the tennis courts. In fact, he says he is in better shape now than he ever was.