Sanford Irwin Roth

We are saddened to report the passing of Sanford Irwin Roth, MD. Irwin passed away peacefully at his home in Chatham on February 22, 2024 at the age of 91. Irwin was a beloved and devoted husband of 62 years to his surviving wife Kay. He will be remembered as a loving husband, father, brother, grandfather, colleague and friend. Irwin was born on October 14th, 1932, to Herman and Blanche Roth in McAlester, OK. He attended Vanderbilt University before enrolling in Harvard Medical School where he graduated in 1956. He proudly served as a Captain in the US Armed Forces Institute of Pathology from 1960 to 1962.

Dr. Roth was a world renowned pathologist, known for his research of the parathyroid gland. He led and served in the Department of Pathology for Northwestern University, University of Arkansas and Mass General Hospital. Irwin loved jogging, epic poetry, painting, music, Northwestern University athletics, chocolate, cookouts, and spending time with his friends and family. He was brilliant, kind, and someone who was always willing to lend his advice and a helping hand.

Irwin is preceded in death by his brother Larry. He is survived by his wife Kay, daughters, Betsy (Tim), Suzy (Barry), and his sons Jeff and Greg (Jenny). He will be missed by his three granddaughters, his nieces, nephews, and his sister-in-law, Jane Hovey.

Funeral services will be on Monday, February 26, 2024, at Nickerson Funeral Home, 87 Crowell Road, Chatham, MA at 11:00 AM (10:30 Visitation). The burial will follow in People’s Cemetery in Chatham. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Friends Of Orleans Council On Aging Inc. in Orleans, Massachusetts.

May his memory be a blessing for us all.

Please enjoy the following poem to remember Sanford by:

A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

In visions of the dark night

I have dreamed of joy departed-

But a waking dream of life and light

Hath left me broken-hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by day

To him whose eyes are cast

On things around him with a ray

Turned back upon the past?

That holy dream- that holy dream,

While all the world were chiding,

Hath cheered me as a lovely beam

A lonely spirit guiding.

What though that light, thro' storm and night,

So trembled from afar-

What could there be more purely bright

In Truth's day-star?