Dr. Carl Wierum died on Wednesday, September 28, 2022 at the age of 97. He is preceded in death by his loving wife Lucy Wierum who passed earlier this year. Carl is survived by three children from his first marriage to Betty Wierum (nee Gray), his daughter Anne Wierum, son Craig Wierum (Robin), and son Christopher Wierum (Vaia). He leaves behind five grandchildren, Isabelle Wierum, Olivia Wierum, Elisabeth Wierum, Michael Wierum, and Dean Wierum. Carl also leaves behind several beloved stepchildren, Tracy Fitzpatrick (Jonathan Spack), Hugh Fitzpatrick, Amy Fitzpatrick, and Tim Fitzpatrick (Diane) and three step-grandchildren, Anna Spack, Chris Fitzpatrick and Katie Fitzpatrick. He is also survived by his beloved sister Virginia Lee Bennett, aged 96 (Baltimore, MD), his cousin Jane Young (nee Bellamy) age 91 (Mills River, NC) and their children and grandchildren.
Carl was born in Baltimore Maryland on February 28th, 1925, to the late Otto Carl Wierum and Frances Churchill Wierum (nee Woods). He grew up in Rockville Center Long Island and graduated from Oceanside High School. He also attended the Greenwich House Music School in New York City under the mentorship of Henric Caroselli (from Uruguay). During his tenure at Greenwich, he was chosen to play a Bruch Violin concerto for visiting First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. He also played a violin solo for his graduating class at Oceanside during the graduation ceremony. He contemplated pursuing a career as a concert violinist, but instead chose to pursue a career in engineering. He enrolled in Columbia University Engineering School during the war under the accelerated V-12 program in anticipation of joining the Navy. He graduated in 1945, then served as an active-duty officer in the US Naval Reserves between 1945 and 1946 during which time he served on a troop transport ship in the Pacific. After the war, Carl chose to pursue medicine over engineering. In 1951, he received his Medical Degree from Cornell University Medical college in New York City.
Dr. Wierum did his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at New York Hospital from 1951 to 1954. He then trained an additional year in the field of Arthritis and Metabolic disease at New York Hospital. He held a faculty position at Cornell University Medical College from 1955 until 1973, first as an instructor, and then as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine. Of potential interest to the Nashville medical community, four of his friends/colleagues at Cornell migrated to Nashville Tennessee where they played instrumental roles in medical education at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Dr. David Rodgers (his chief resident), Dr. Thomas Guv Pennington (fellow resident), Dr. Thomas E Brittingham, Sr. (fellow resident) and Dr. Roger Des Prez (his intern).
Dr. Wierum served as Director of Medical Education at Bergen Pines County Hospital in Paramus from 1956 to 1959. He then went into private practice in 1959 at 245 Engle Street in Englewood, New Jersey where he would remain until his retirement. He was a long-standing member of the Medical Staff of Englewood Hospital where he held several leadership positions over four decades, including Director of Medical Education, Clinical Director of Endocrinology, Associate Chief of Endocrinology, Section Chief of Internal Medicine, and Associate Chief of the Department of Medicine.
Dr. Wierum practiced General Internal Medicine in Englewood, New Jersey for over 40 years and retired in 2006. Thereafter, he volunteered his time at the EHMC Medical Clinic teaching residents, and he served as a founding member of Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative, an organization which provides care to medically indigent patients in Bergen County, NJ. By all accounts, he was an outstanding practitioner, teacher, colleague, and mentor. In honor of his decades of service at Englewood Hospital, several of Dr. Wierum’s colleagues and patients contributed to an educational fund in his honor. The Department of Medicine has used this fund to support the Annual Carl Wierum Medicine Grand Rounds.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in the name of Carl and Lucy Wierum to Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative (BVMI): https://www.bvmi.org/
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.Woodlawn-Roesch-PattonFH.com for the Wierum family.
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