He was born on June 24th, 1928 in Freelandville, Indiana to Dorothy and Gilbert Bluhm.
He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Barbara Bluhm (Goodwin), four daughters; Brenda, Diane, Teresa, and Denise, 3 grandchildren; Christopher, Susan and Sarah, and two great-grandchildren; Gabrielle and Ryan.
Born in Freelandville, Indiana, Dr. Bluhm is a graduate of Indiana University where he received both his B.S. and M.D. degrees.
Following an internship and part of an internal medicine residency, he served as a Medical Officer with the U.S. Navy Nuclear Power Training Unit during the Korean Conflict from 1954-57. After completing a specialty residency at both Indiana and Henry Ford Hospital in 1960, Dr. Bluhm practiced as a rheumatologist and internist in the Henry Ford Medical Group’s Department of Medicine and its Bone and Joint Center.
In 1961, he began his career in arthritis research investigating inflammation. This led Dr. Bluhm to establish a transmission and scanning electron microscopy lab in 1978 in the Benson Ford Research and Education Facility in Detroit and a clinical research time-oriented database for rheumatology in 1984 at Henry Ford Hospital.
Dr. Bluhm has authored numerous articles, papers and book chapters and edited several clinical publications. He has lectured widely both nationally and internationally about his research. In 1977, he was awarded the Hektoen Silver Medal for applied clinical research by the American Medical Association.
He has served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Arthritis Foundation and has also served as President of the Michigan Rheumatism Society, the Wayne County Medical Society and the Michigan State Medical Society. Dr. Bluhm has been a Michigan delegate to the American Medical Association House of Delegates 1990-2000.
Dr. Bluhm has taught Henry Ford House Officers and Fellows and medical students from both Wayne State University and the University of Michigan. He was an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Michigan from 1979 until his retirement from the Henry Ford Medical Group in 1997.
In 1998, the Michigan Chapter of the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine presented Dr. Bluhm with its Michigan Laureate Award.
Dr. Bluhm received the Distinguished Career Award from the Henry Ford Medical Association on October 20, 2000.
A memorial service will take place at 10 AM Thursday August 2, 2018 at the Pixley Funeral Home, 3530 Auburn Road, Auburn Hills. Military Honors and Interment at Great Lakes National Cemetery. The family will receive friends Thursday at 9:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made in his honor to the Arthritis Foundation
