Dr. Daniel Tarsy

Daniel Tarsy, M.D. died on July 14th from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease. He was 85. Dan was a neurologist and movement disorders specialist whose professional focus was academic research and patient care. He was dedicated to training and mentoring young neurologists as a Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and while working at the New England Deaconess Hospital and at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he was founder and Director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center. Dan published extensively and was an editor of several academic publications.

Dan was born in Jerusalem in 1940 and came with his parents Dave Tarsy and Sonia Matz Tarsy to the United States when he was one-year-old. Raised in Brooklyn, New York, Dan went to Cornell University where he majored in psychology. A year after graduating, he married Louise (Spiro) Tarsy. Louise worked as a teacher in the New York City public schools and supported Dan while he attended medical school at New York University. Dan did his internship in medicine at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, where their first son, Ron, was born. After his internship, Dan served as a Captain in the United States Army as a general medical officer from 1968 to 1970. Louise and Dan’s second son, Andy was born while Dan was stationed at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey. Dan served in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970, as commanding officer of a medical company in a triage role supporting combat units.

Upon returning from Vietnam, Dan began his residency at Boston University Medical School, joining Louise and the boys who had already moved to Massachusetts awaiting his arrival. During a subsequent fellowship year in London, England, Dan developed a deep interest in the treatment of movement disorders. As he developed his practice in Boston, Louise and Dan welcomed the arrival of their third son, Derek.

For the next 50 years, Dan contributed substantially to the establishment of movement disorders as a major sub-specialty in neurology, and to numerous innovations in treatment and care of patients. He was particularly proud of the pioneering work his team did to treat Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor and dystonia, including introducing botulinum toxin and deep brain stimulation to patients in the New England area. Dan had a special bond with the fellows and young clinicians he had the opportunity to teach and learn from in Boston and worldwide. He also created an ongoing series of gatherings to bring experts in the field together with patients and their families. Dan’s peers viewed him as an expert diagnostician and sought his counsel with many cases.

Dan remained deeply connected to his family in Israel throughout his life, making sure that his family had the opportunity to foster a lasting intergenerational connection over great distance. In the 1980s he developed strong conviction about the plight of Jews in the Soviet Union. He and Louise made an unforgettable trip to the Soviet Union in 1988, where he treated patients who had been denied access to medical care and helped document the effects of persecution faced by Jews in Russia at the time.

Dan was an accomplished amateur sculptor, an avid Boston sports fan and a true film buff. Dan and Louise’s cape house on Lake Wequaquet (Cape Cod) was a summer haven for family and friends to gather. Dan loved to putter there with an endless list of projects. At that house, he loved to chase the geese away, run the grill, play tennis, launch bike trips and drive the motor boat for water skiers and tubers. For Dan, it was the place for hanging out with the family for over 30 years and a place where lifelong memories were made.

For so many, Dan was the essence of patience, kindness and caring with patients and their families during their very stressful times and with his own family and friends. He always tried to be present for the big moments of everyone else’s life, especially for his sons and his seven grandchildren. “Maybe” was the harshest word he would say, and he never said “no.” It was hard to ruffle his feathers, and to have Dan in your corner was a game changer.

Dan is survived by Louise, his wife of 63 years; his son Ron and his wife Jane Tarsy, and their children Sophia, Rory and Amelia; his son Andy and his wife Bridget Samburg and their children Emmett and Hazel; his son Derek and his wife Lauren Lindstrom and their children Levi and Hugo; as well as a large and close network of beloved cousins, nephews, nieces, friends and colleagues he treasured.

A Funeral Service will be held at Temple Beth Elohim, 10 Bethel Rd, Wellesley, MA 02481, on Friday, July 17, at 10:30 am.Followed by a private burial. Shiva is TBD.

In lieu of flowers, tributes to the memory of Daniel Tarsy may be made to the Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center Fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center by visiting www.bidmc.org/giving while choosing "Other" and writing in "Parkinson's Fellowship."