Dr. Murray Heimberg

Dr. Murray Heimberg passed away November 17, 2025, in Memphis, TN after a *month-long illness, two months before his 101st birthday. Dr. Heimberg was a prominent research and clinical pharmacologist retiring as Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology and Distinguished Emeritus Professor at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center in Memphis. Dr. Heimberg was preceded in death by his wife Anna Langlois Heimberg, parents, Gustav and Fannie (Geller) Heimberg, sister Dorothy Friedman, and brother Arnold Heimberg.

While at UTHSC Dr. Heimberg performed extensive research in and treating of patients for metabolic cardiovascular illnesses at both Methodist University Hospital and the Veteran’s Hospital. Even after retirement at age 93, he continued participating in patient evaluation and consulting until his terminal illness.

Prior to his time at UT, he was Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO and for 15 years was a full professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University.

Dr. Heimberg grew up in Brighton Beach, New York. When he was 5 his father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease leaving himself, his mother, sister, and brother, in extreme financial difficulty. As the oldest son he started working at age 10. He graduated Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, NY at the age of 16, just a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Not having any money for college, he took a job on a dairy farm in upstate New York, which in summer 1942 qualified him for free tuition at Cornell University.

Enrolling at Cornell in the fall of 1942 as an agricultural student (studying the same biology as pre-med majors) he continued to work to pay his room and board. Shortly after reaching his 18th birthday in January 1943, he enlisted in the US Army. While in pilot training in Florida, he was selected for the Army Special Training Program, removed from the pilot training and sent to Blacksburg, VA. After a short time in that program, the ASTP was cancelled by Congress and he was transferred to the 84th Infantry Division, training in Louisiana. During the summer of 1944, the division was first sent to England and shortly after relocated to mainland Europe.

His unit fought in northern Belgium and then on to Germany. On November 29, 1944, at age 19, his platoon advanced ahead of a general attack and was surrounded. During a 6-hour battle most of the soldiers were killed or wounded. Although Dr. Heimberg suffered grenade shrapnel wounds he was alert enough to discard his dogtags identifying him as Jewish when the platoon was ordered to surrender. The survivors were marched east for a few days, then loaded onto freight cars and transported to a POW Camp in eastern Germany. Surviving bombing raids by Allied aircraft on the journey, he contracted tuberculosis while in POW camp. In early Spring 1945, Dr. Heimberg escaped the POW camp during an air raid and made his way to the Russian lines. When the war ended, he went to a Canadian unit and then to the US Base Camp Lucky Strike near Le Harve, France and then transported back home.

After receiving his Honorable Discharge in November 1945, he returned to Cornell University on the GI bill, this time as a pre-med student. He completed both a BS and MS at Cornell, then enrolled at Duke University Medical School. His PhD in Biochemistry was completed in 1952. After some post-doctoral work at Washington University in St. Louis, he moved to Vanderbilt University as an Assistant Professor, where he obtained his MD in 1959.

In his private life, Dr. Heimberg was a devoted husband and loving father. He was an avid racquetball player, an artist who blew glass objects (as well as constructing experimental apparatus for his research), liked playing the piano, and travelled extensively both domestically and internationally. He was also an avid reader and animal lover, always having a cat and dog. Additionally, he was a member of Temple Israel Synagogue and the Shady Grove Presbyterian Church, where for a time he taught Sunday school.

Dr. Heimberg is survived by his sons Richard Heimberg (Linda Macaluso) and Steven Heimberg (Seng Hak); two stepsons Larry Knox (Sheri) and David Knox; two nieces Gail Starkey and Susan Heimberg; nephew Barry Friedman; four grandchildren, Peter Knox (Heather Burrus), Anna Colwell (Chris), Chris Macaluso, and Nikki Heimberg; great niece Alexandra Starkey; 8 great grandchildren, Knox, Indiana, Silas, Satchel (all Colwell); Jack, Scarlett (both Knox), Connor and Riley (both Macaluso) and a great grand niece and nephew Dorothea and Benjamin (both McMahon).

The family will receive relatives and friends on Wednesday December 3 at Woodlawn Funeral Home, 660 Thompson Lane, Nashville, TN (615) 608-4097. Visitation will be at 11:00 a.m. until 12:00, the graveside service to follow.

A Memorial Service will be held at Temple Israel 1375 E. Massey Rd, Memphis, TN 38120 on Friday December 5 at 10:30 a.m. The Family will be at home Friday afternoon and all day Saturday for condolence calls.

In lieu of flowers please make a Memorial donation to the American Heart Association.