William I. Weiss, MD

William I. Weiss, MD

Dr. William I. Weiss died on May 10, 2023, having just turned 101 years old. Athlete, scholar, builder, child of the Great Depression, it’s fair to say that whatever factors shaped him resulted in a measurable impact in service to medicine and humanity for more than a century.

Graduating from NYU undergrad and its College of Medicine, he began his 75-year career as a physician in the U.S. Army during World War 2. He subsequently created a successful allergy practice in NJ, in addition to conducting numerous clinics at the VA and multiple NJ/NY hospitals. He also served terms as president of the Medical Society of New Jersey, The New Jersey Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Society, and the medical staff of St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ. He frequently appeared on local newscasts in the metropolitan NY area with the latest pollen counts, front and center in the never-ending battle against ragweed.

His retirement from private practice brought only more opportunities to be of service - to which he never said no. 

His retirement from private practice brought only more opportunities to be of service - to which he never said no. He was appointed Medical Director of the NJ State Board of Medical Examiners. Upon his relocation to Sarasota, FL, he volunteered as a physician at the Senior Friendship Center and as a builder with Habitat for Humanity - both lasting into his nineties. He defied old age and he dismissed suggestions to slow down. He just had too much to do.

Perhaps his greatest life accomplishment occurred in 1953 when he married Lenore Holzer, the smartest, prettiest, and most charismatic girl in their hometown of Newark, NJ. For 66 years they were the model of a successful marriage that transcended and evolved through all of life’s challenges. The fact that she was her high school valedictorian and he finished second in his graduating class kept him humble. She never let him forget it (although he did remind her that his Weequahic High School was twice the size of her South Side).

He was a good man, and that’s what he aimed for above all else. There are long lives and then there are lives well lived. Bill Weiss managed to have both. He also had a great love of waterskiing and sailing, which he enthusiastically shared with his family. He leaves three children, eight grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren in his honorable wake.