Dr. Gabrielle Gold-von Simson

Dr. Gabrielle Gold-von Simson, a beloved physician, devoted wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, colleague, cousin and friend, died on May 2, 2026, in Manhattan, New York, at the age of 54, after a courageous decade-long battle with cancer.

Gabrielle was born on October 1, 1971, in Queens, New York, and carried with her throughout her life the energy, resilience, intelligence, and warmth of the community around her. To know Gabrielle was to know a woman of rare brilliance and deep humanity.

Gabrielle earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1993. She went on to receive her M.D. from NYU Grossman School of Medicine in 1998, and later completed a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation at New York University in 2008. Her education reflected not only her remarkable academic ability, but also her lifelong dedication to medicine, research, teaching, and the care of children.

Her professional life was one of distinction, service, and purpose. Gabrielle served as Director of the CTSI Clinical Research Center at NYU School of Medicine, where she helped make rigorous, patient-centered research possible. She also served as Medical Director of the Pediatric Acute Care Unit, bringing compassion, expertise, and steady leadership to the care of children and families during some of their most vulnerable moments. In addition, she served as a Principal Investigator at the NIH Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, advancing research with real significance for patients and public health. In every role, she was respected not only for her knowledge and skill, but for the generosity, integrity, and humanity with which she approached her work.

Gabrielle was deeply committed to her Jewish heritage. She carried the values Judaism teaches throughout her life: vibrancy, community, perseverance, and the ability to question anything and everything. She lived those values not abstractly, but every day, through her care for patients, her devotion to those she loved, and the strength with which she met the world.

She is survived by her husband of 27 years, Peter von Simson, by her sister, Claudia Gold, her mother, Denice Gold, and by her twin children, Isabelle and Bernard von Simson, who were the great joys of her life. Her family was the center of her world. She was a loving, steadfast, and deeply present wife and mother, offering encouragement, wisdom, affection, and strength in equal measure. Her devotion to Peter, Isabelle, and Bernard was evident to all who knew her. She took immense pride in her children, delighted in their lives, and shaped them with a love that will remain with them always.

Those who knew Gabrielle will remember her as a woman of uncommon intelligence, deep thoughtfulness, and enduring spirit. She met life’s challenges with courage and grace. Her colleagues admired her leadership, insight, and dedication. Her friends cherished her warmth, wit, and loyalty. Her family knew her as the heart of their lives, a source of love, guidance, comfort, and joy. Her legacy lives on in the patients she cared for, the colleagues she inspired, the research and institutions she strengthened, the friends whose lives she enriched, and, most of all, in the family she loved so deeply. Though her life ended far too soon, the impact of her work, her character, and her love will endure.

May her memory be a blessing.