Dr. David L. Bloom

Dr. David Bloom was a distinguished and dedicated neuroradiologist, one of the earliest specialists in this field. He was a respected physician, teacher and medical executive and was active in his profession right up until his death on August 5, 2020, at age 90. A private graveside service was held two days later at Sharon Memorial Park.

Dr. Bloom grew up in the Mattapan, Blue Hill Avenue, Jewish neighborhood of Boston where his social gang formed the core of what would become vital, life-long friendships. He developed a strong work ethic at an early age, from necessity. Starting in his teens, he worked at his uncle’s newspaper corner and elsewhere to earn pocket money and help pay his way through college and medical school.

He was encouraged to take education seriously and was graduated from Boston Public Latin School (‘47), Harvard College (‘51) and Tufts Medical School (‘55). He began his residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston but was swiftly drafted during the Korean Conflict. As a captain in the Medical Corps at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, Dr. Bloom found himself in charge of the hospital’s radiology wing at age 27. To his surprise, that included reading the chest x-rays of the men who would become the seven original American astronauts.

In 1961, Dr. Bloom and his young family moved to London for him to complete a year of fellowship study in neuroradiology at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases. The cultural impact of living and traveling overseas left a lasting impression on them all and there were few things which made him happier than British Cadbury chocolate and D’Oyly Carte productions of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.

His specialist training led to a staff job at Yale New Haven Hospital as its sole neuroradiologist. Four years afterwards, he was hired to head up the Radiology Department at Morristown Memorial Hospital in New Jersey where he remained for 16 years.

When magnetic resonance imaging began to be available in the United States in the early 80s, Dr. Bloom was one of the first radiologists to use and champion the ground-breaking technology— initially in New Jersey and then in-and-around greater Boston. He remained in his hometown for the rest of his career, working in various MRI-related leadership roles and teaching capacities— happily reunited with many of his childhood friends.

In the late 80s, Dr. Bloom began to collect pieces of the Paul Revere pottery decorated by his mother as part of the early 20th century immigrant-betterment social group the Saturday Evening Girls. He was deeply proud that her art is on display at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

He is survived by his devoted wife of 65 years, Phyllis, his three children, Deborah (Brookline, Massachusetts), Gordon (Palo Alto, California), and Adrienne (Seattle, Washington) and three grandchildren. His loving and compassionate presence as the family patriarch, enduring optimism, clear perspective, and easy laugh will be forever missed.