Members of The Macula Society,
It is with great sorrow that I announce to you that our Macula Society member, Daniel T. Weidenthal, passed away this past Saturday at the age of 93. At the last executive committee meeting of the Macula Society, I put on the agenda what I thought was appropriate for the accomplished physicians that include all of our members. For many years we, like many other societies, we only mentioned a few sentences including our regrets when a member passed away. The consensus of the executive committee was that a more thoughtful remembrance was appropriate, and that it should be prepared by a member of the Society who knew the deceased well. Little did I know that I would soon have that responsibility and honor.
Dan Weidenthal graduated Cum Laude from Dartmouth College. He entered Western Reserve University School of Medicine in August of 1954. He did his ophthalmology residency at the Kresge Eye Institute, affiliated with Wayne State University. After his residency, Dan went to The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology at Walter Reed Hospital. He then trained at Mass Eye & Ear Infirmary and the Retina Research Institute. He was inspired by Charles Schepens and was one of Dr. Schepens early trainees. Dan was the first physician in Cleveland to limit his work from the start of his practice to retinal diseases and surgery. He clearly was much better trained and experienced in retinal surgery than I was. I was able to add some expertise in retinal vascular and macular diseases, having the good fortune to be trained at Wilmer while we were doing the original NIH Diabetic Retinopathy Study.
Dan and I did all of our surgical cases together during the first year we were together. I learned much about retinal detachment surgery from him. I was able to help a little with surgery since I was trained after the operating microscope became the norm, while he was not.
Dan practiced predominantly at St. Lukes Hospital. There he became the head of the Residency Program. Eventually he became Director of the Department of Ophthalmology.
Dan and I were never financial partners, but we worked in the same office together, seamlessly without any animosity. We covered each other’s backs much better than most partners do. Dan was man with absolute integrity. His creed was clear: “The patient came first.” I suspect some of that he learned from his father, a renowned pediatrician, famous for his regular house calls. Both Dan and his father were trained at Western Reserve University School of Medicine. That was before it became Case Western Reserve University by joining with Case University. He endowed a chair at the medical school.
After ten years, I took the path of growing my practice and adding excellent physicians regularly. Dan chose to remain a solo practitioner throughout his many years of practice. When he finally gave up his private practice in 2024, he continued to teach the residents at Case Western Reserve Medical School while they did their rotations at the VA Hospital. Remarkably, his last visit to the VA was on May 22nd of this year. This is despite his suffering from progressive pulmonary fibrosis for a few years. Ultimately that is the disease that led to his demise.
Dan continued his eagerness to read and to learn, particularly about the field of retina. Although he was already well into his battle with pulmonary fibrosis, he asked me after the last Macula Society meeting to provide him with the recordings of the meeting so that he would not miss anything from the meeting that he could not attend because of his health.
Dan Weidenthal inspired me throughout my career, and I expect he will continue to do so after his passing.
Lawrence J. Singerman
