W. Eugene Stern

W. Eugene Stern, MD
Member Since 1970
Santa Monica, CA
Date of Death: July 27, 2017

Walter Eugene Stern, Jr., only son of Walter Eugene Stern and Ida May McCoy, was born in Portland, Oregon, on January 1, 1920. A graduate of Glendale High School (1937), he obtained his Bachelor and Doctor of Medicine degrees from the University of California (Berkeley and San Francisco, respectively). His graduate education and surgical residency training were completed in 1951 following two years' service in the U.S. Army Medical Corps.

He and Elizabeth Naffziger of San Francisco were married in 1946 and mothered and fathered Geoffrey Alexander, Howard Christian, Eugenia Louise, and Walter Eugene III. Invited by William P. Longmire, Jr. to join the faculty in the Department of Surgery at the newly established UCLA School of Medicine in January 1952, he became the founding chief of Neurosurgery and rapidly rose in rank to a full professorship in the University. As a surgical scholar, teacher, and practitioner of the art, he enjoyed service on many professional bodies and was recognized by officer-ships and presidencies of local, regional, and national neurological surgery and other surgical organizations. The neurosurgical residency program at UCLA, which achieved top national rankings under his stewardship was his great joy. His publication record is one of distinction, and he was recognized by visiting professorships at home and abroad. A loyal servant of UCLA, he presided as Chairman of the Department of Surgery for the six years prior to his retirement in the fall of 1987.

An active Episcopalian, he was Senior Warden at St. Augustine-by-the-Sea in Santa Monica and later served in that capacity at St. Matthew's Parish in Pacific Palisades where he had been a member since 1978. His community service included twelve years on the Board of Trustees of the Harvard School (now Harvard-Westlake). A memorial service is scheduled for August 19, 2017 at 2:30pm at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, 1031 Bienvenida Ave., Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions may be made to the Elizabeth N. Stern Memorial Fund at St. Matthews, the UCLA Foundation's Department of Neurological Surgery Fund for the W. Eugene Stern Chair, or a charity of your choice .

Published in the Los Angeles Times from Aug. 11 to Aug. 13, 2017