Lawrence Franklin Waldman, M.D.

Lawrence Franklin Waldman, M.D., 71, passed away from cancer at his home in Phoenix, AZ on January 29, 2020, surrounded by his wife and 5 children. The youngest of 4 children, Larry was born on May 3, 1948 in Philadelphia, PA to Jack and Leah (Robbins) Waldman. Larry had fond memories of playing "step ball" and baseball on Kerper Street in NE Philly with his first cousins and friends who lived on his block. His family and his maternal aunt's family would rent an old Victorian house in Wildwood Crest, NJ for the entire summer while his father worked in Philly and commuted to the beach by train every weekend. When his father retired from the FBI in 1958, his family moved to Phoenix and settled in a new house on the outskirts of town at 7th Avenue and Northern! Jack became President of Agricultural Commodities, Inc. and died in 1966 during Larry's senior year at Washington High School. Larry received his B.S. in Political Science from ASU in 1970, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi, followed by his medical degree from Georgetown University in 1974. He met Patricia Buyck, a nursing student, in 1972 at a party and they married on August 26, 1973 in Rochester, NY, soon after Pa...[more]

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graduation from Georgetown. The wedding almost didn't take place because the young couple had difficulty persuading a rabbi to perform an interfaith ceremony with a Catholic priest. A sympathetic rabbi from Columbia, Maryland finally agreed to fly to New York to co-officiate, launching his new career as the "flying rabbi". Larry completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine from 1974-1977 at the Maricopa County Hospital. He received his American Board of Internal Medicine Certification 8 days after his second son was born in 1977. Larry decided he would make a better employer than employee and started a private, solo practice in NE Phoenix in 1977 with John C. Lincoln-North Mountain as his primary hospital. He served on many hospital committees over the years. His office was near home and his children's schools allowing him to attend all of their special school events, coach little league and soccer, and most importantly, rearrange his schedule to attend spring training games and play tennis. Larry, an excellent diagnostician and attentive listener, developed many close relationships with his patients and sometimes they even discussed his patient's symptoms rather than sports, politics, music, and the stock market. After 30 years of practice, he "retired" in 2007 so he wouldn't have to convert his paper charts to electronic medical records. He then worked part time as a principal investigator of clinical trials at Arizona Research Center from 2008-2011 and Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS from 2009-2013. Larry had a passion for the music of the Big Band era. In 2004, he agreed to take ballroom dancing lessons with Pat and happily discovered his teachers often played the songs of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald and other favorite singers of the Great American Song Book. They continued taking weekly dance lessons for 15 years and became regulars on the dance circuit at many local venues around Scottsdale and Phoenix. Larry enjoyed weekly lunch dates with his "Old Farts" lunch group and eating with his old colleagues at the Lincoln doctors' lounge. Other hobbies included collecting old time radio shows, writing letters to the editor, reading obituaries, eating samples at Costco, playing Words with Friends, and talking to random strangers at Happy Hour. Baseball was his other lifelong interest- his knowledge of players, teams, and stadiums was legendary. On a trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015 he proudly won the "So you think you know baseball" daily contest. Pat shared his love of watching classic movies, MGM musicals, attending local live theatre and jazz concerts. Antique stores always had to be explored for a rare vinyl record or first edition book. He also enjoyed going to the movies with his family and bringing home the free popcorn refill from Harkins! In recent years attending Sedona Film Festivals and visiting Carmel, CA were some of his favorite vacations. Larry's children have fond memories of being stuffed into the family car along with countless suitcases and seemingly everything they owned to go on summer vacations to Disneyland, Cayucos, CA, Park City, UT, Aspen and Vail, CO while being forced to listen to the Jack Benny Program and Orson Welles Mercury Theatre and to answer Trivial Pursuit questions. Above all, Larry was happiest staying home with his family, lying on the couch, eating chips and pretzels off his chest, reading his latest books from the library and medical journals while he was listening to his music, radio show, or baseball game. He loved taking his 2 dachshunds Bingle (Crosby) and Teddy Ballgame (Williams) for long walks, playing with his grandchildren who called him Poppy, and relentlessly trying to convince Pat to vote for Democrats. Larry was known for his quick wit and kind, compassionate spirit. He will be missed by all. Larry was preceded in death by his parents Jack and Leah Waldman and his sister Judith (Roland) Weiss. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Patricia Waldman; their five children: John Waldman of Phoenix, Michael Waldman, M.D. (Leslie, M.D.) of Poulsbo, WA, Thomas Waldman (Marcelle) of Issaquah, WA, Katherine Holdsworth (Evan, M.D.) of Scottsdale, and Elizabeth Waldman of Brentwood, CA; 6 grandchildren: Annabelle and Melanie Waldman of Poulsbo, Stella and Jack Waldman of Issaquah, and Emma and Liam Holdsworth of Scottsdale; his brother Robert Waldman, M.D. (Gay) of Bethesda, MD, his sister Louise Singer (Ronald) of Los Alamitos, CA; and beloved nieces, nephews, Waldman and Robbins cousins, in-laws, and a host of long-time friends. When he went on hospice care in November, Larry mentioned that one of his last wishes was to see the final Star Wars movie. Due to the persistent efforts of his son Tom and the social worker, Disney graciously agreed to a private screening for Larry and his family at his home a week before the film premiered on the big screen in Hollywood in December. He was honored when J.J. Abrams, the director, called him a few days later to discuss the movie. The family wishes to thank Larry's Hospice of the Valley home team: Karla, Wanda, Allison, and Mike, the entire staff at Sherman Home, and his doctors, friends and extended family who supported Larry during his illness. Larry often said "Don't send thoughts. Don't send prayers. Send ice cream!" Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, a celebration of life for Larry will be held at a later date. For information and to share memories of Larry please visit: https://www.forevermissed.com/dr-lawrence-waldman . If you would like to be notified about the celebration of life, contact the family at lfwcelebrationoflife@gmail.com Memorials for Larry may be made to: Hospice of the Valley https://www.hov.org/donate/ Musical Instrument Museum https://mim.org/support-mim/individual-gifts/ The Arizona Humane Society https://www.azhumane.org/get-involved/give-now/