Neil Howard Merkatz

Neil Howard Merkatz, 50, beloved husband of Lynda for 15 years died on January 3rd, 2015 in Stuart, Florida. He was born in Chinon, France during the time his father served in the military. As a young boy living in Shaker Heights, OH he became an Eagle Scout and later graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell Medical School. He was a triathelete, climber of Colorado's "Fourteeners" while completing residency and fellowship training in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Colorado Medical College. He went on to practice in Martin County, FL. and became Medical Director of Sandy Pines Hospital where he was beloved by the children and adolescents for whom he cared. Neil was a happy, fun loving guy, an animal lover, avid sports fan, and scholarly reader of fantasy literature, but treasured family above all. He will be profoundly missed by his wife Lynda and their daughter Jessie and by his parents Ruth and Irwin Merkatz of Rye, NY, his brothers Kenneth (Sheri Caplan) and Andrew (Lisa) and his four nieces and nephews who loved their Uncle Neil. Services are Friday, January 9, 2015, 11:00am at Central Synagogue in Manhattan; memorial service in Florida at a later date. Tribute gifts to honor Neil's memory and his 35 year struggle with juvenile diabetes to the Neil H Merkatz MD Memorial Fund at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF.org).