Aug. 3 would have been my father’s 89th birthday. It is the first time we marked the occasion without him. But his presence still surrounds us, in our memories and in our values, with the quiet brilliance and decency that defined his life.
Dr. Robert B. Daroff, z”l, was a physician, teacher, and pioneer. He was the first chairman of the Department of Neurology at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals, both in Cleveland. He served as President of the American Neurological Association and the American Headache Society. He was editor-in-chief of NEUROLOGY, the leading journal of the American Academy of Neurology. He was a founder of the sub-specialty of Neuro-Ophthalmology. His name lives on in the “Brandt-Daroff maneuver,” still used today to treat vertigo. Google it to see thousands of references and demonstration videos.
Behind the accolades was a man who saw every person as worthy of kindness and respect. He treated everyone the same: nurse, surgeon, receptionist or security guard. That human decency was not a posture. It was his default setting. Whether making rounds at University Hospitals or the Veterans Administration Hospital, he stopped often to ask questions, offer encouragement, or just check in on someone’s life. That ethic shaped his relationships, and ours…