Philip Freedman obituary

My father, Philip Freedman, who has died aged 93, was a well-known figure in the medical profession in his native Britain and his adopted home of the US. His long career included teaching, research, and a top-secret mission at Spandau prison.

Born in the East End of London, Philip grew up poor – his Lithuanian immigrant father, Myer Freedman, made a precarious living selling sweets from a street barrow, while his mother, Mildred (nee Frankel), was a housewife. He attended the Jews’ Free school (now the Jewish Free school), and then went on to study medicine at University College London.

After qualifying, Philip swiftly rose up the ranks of the medical profession, becoming a consultant in internal medicine (a specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of adult diseases) at the earliest age then possible, 34. As a medical resident at University College Hospital he was a protege of Basil Mackenzie, one of the pioneers of geriatric medicine.

In the early 1950s, having deferred his national service, Philip served as an officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps in Germany. There, in Berlin, as he recalled, he was “whisked away, cloak and dagger style, in the dead of night” to see a sick patient in Spandau, the prison in which senior captured Nazis were being held. The patient was Konstantin von Neurath, who had been foreign minister under Adolf Hitler from 1933 to 1938. Philip’s mission was kept hush-hush because, at that time, the Soviet authorities had control over Spandau but, embarrassingly, could not locate a Russian doctor.

Philip later said: “Von Neurath was bright, charming, and spoke impeccable English. Whatever my feelings were about Germans, and especially the leaders of the Nazi regime, when face to face with Von Neurath, he just became another patient.”

In 1963 Philip was lured to the US to become the chief of internal medicine at the Chicago Medical School. He moved to Chicago with his wife, Jean (nee Cunningham), whom he had married in 1954, and their four children. A fifth child (me) arrived soon thereafter.

Philip was later appointed chair of internal medicine at Mount Sinai hospital in New York, a position he held until 1979, after which he became a professor at Rush Presbyterian University in Chicago. At Rush he was instrumental in developing an interdisciplinary programme to treat elderly patients, using teams of physicians, social workers and psychiatrists.

In 1972, in recognition of his contributions to medical scholarship, he was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.

Always passionate about classical music – he studied the violin as a boy – Philip enthusiastically supported Chicago public radio.

He is survived by Jean, his five children, Simon, Marion, Mark, Paul and me, 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.