Obituary of David Shander, MD

Memorial service, Sunday, December 3rd at 1pm at Feldman Mortuary chapel: 1673 York Street, Denver CO 80206.

Service will be live streamed via Feldman Mortuary's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FeldmanMortuary/streams

Reception to follow at Feldman Mortuary.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, David attended Erasmus Hall High School before entering Brooklyn College. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude. He went on to the University of Rochester School of Medicine on a Jonas Salk scholarship where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical honors society. He completed his medical residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston as a Harvard fellow.

David then joined the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska, as an internist at the Bassett Army Hospital. Following his honorable discharge, he completed a fellowship in cardiology at the University of Colorado. He then joined a cardiology practice at Rose Medical Center and became a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

During his almost 40 years of practice David had the honor of being elected president of the Colorado chapter of the American College of Cardiology as well as President of the medical staff at Rose Medical Center.

In his retirement, David indulged his passion for astronomy by volunteering in the Space Odyssey sector of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. He was a lifelong subscriber to Scientific American, which repeatedly published his astute letters to the editor. He spent many years sharing his joy of learning by developing curriculum and teaching classes across a range of subjects at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Denver.

David was a gifted storyteller and loved a good joke, even performing standup comedy gigs on multiple occasions, where he shared his vast trove of Jewish jokes. He loved to travel and was an avid photographer, and excellent skier.

David is survived by his beloved wife Karen, three children, Elizabeth, Katherine, and William, six grandchildren, and three cats.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to one of three charities:

Jewish Family Service:

https://www.jewishfamilyservice.org/

or call 720-248-4659 or send to 3201 South Tamarac Drive, Denver, CO 80231

University of Colorado Trafton-Snyder Endowed Kidney Transplantation Fund:

https://giving.cu.edu/fund/trafton-snyder-endowed-fund-kidney-transplantation

or call 303-541-1290 and use Code D-0036168

Dr. David & Karen Shander Endowed Scholarship Fund, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry:

University of Rochester Office of Gift and Donor Records, 300 East River Road, Box 270032, Rochester, NY 14627

If you missed his pre-recorded eulogies, slideshow, or stand up video, you can watch below: