Thomas William Ziegler

March 28, 1941 - February 21, 2025

La Jolla, CA

Thomas William Ziegler, MD, reposed on February 21, 2025 in La Jolla, California at the age of 84, having been born March 28, 1941 in Boston, Massachusetts.

A well-read, sharp-witted man to the very end, Tom led an accomplished life that touched many including friends, family, church community, patients, colleagues and associates, and caregivers who were so important in the later years of his life. Though his family moved around the country he primarily grew up in the Lancaster, PA area.

Tom entered a pre-med program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and earned his B.A. in 1961, then his Doctor of Medicine in 1965. He continued on there with his residency, and was accredited by the American Board of Internal Medicine specializing in Nephrology.

From 1966 to 1968 Tom served in Vietnam as a doctor at the rank of lieutenant in the Navy Reserve Medical Corps on the Mekong River. As the first medical officer for the River Assault Flotilla One he established a medical program for the Army and Navy troops in the delta, and was awarded the Bronze Star with a combat “V” for his distinguished service with the joint Army-Navy Mobile Riverine Force. He returned from his second tour in Vietnam around the same time his wife, Elizabeth, finished her medical

degree. The two married and eventually settled in San Diego where he was a Clinical Professor in the Division of Nephrology at the University of California School of Medicine at San Diego, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and Director of the Dialysis Unit at the San Diego Veterans Affairs San Diego Health System until he retired in 2001.

Tom’s clinic experience, training and collaborations led to many research contributions. These ranged from fundamental physiological studies based on laboratory investigations to clinic studies contributing knowledge toward diagnoses and potential treatment. He published this work from 1967 to 2002 in medical journals including the Lancet, American Journal of Physiology, Medical Hypotheses, Investigations in Radiology, American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Radiology, American Journal of Kidney Disease.

Tom’s dedication to both medicine and his Christian faith was profound, and frequently interrelated. Fellow veterans of the forces in which he served in Vietnam recall him as a doctor in the manner of a chaplain. He went on to serve as a ruling elder of New Life Presbyterian Church in La Mesa, of which he was a longtime member and organist, and as a trustee of Westminster Seminary California. Additionally, Tom’s Christian faith extended into philanthropic causes that he cared about deeply.

Tom’s passion for music was one way in which he shared his deep faith in Christ with friends, family and even his more casual acquaintances; for many years Tom supported the Bach Collegium San Diego. Visitors to Tom and Elizabeth’s home, where in past years the couple regularly opened their doors to those in need of a good meal, were always greeted by classical music, the fruits of Tom’s talent for fine cuisine, and Johannes the Teddy bear - the patriarch of the couple’s large bear family, and named for Johannes Brahms.

He leaves behind his brother Edwin Eugene Ziegler, brothers in-law Peter (Karen) and David (Libby) Jansson, nieces Anne (Scott) Banks, Susan (Glenn) Ziegler, and Georgia (Mikhail) Jansson Williams, nephews William Ziegler and Eric (Laura) Jansson, grandnieces Kelsea and Katie Ziegler, Jennifer Banks, Elizabeth and Anna Williams, Naomi, Anna-Maria and Lydia Jansson, and grandnephews Matthew Banks, Noah and Aaron Piercey, Thomas Jansson and Theodore Williams.

Predeceased by his accomplished and lovely wife Elizabeth Jansson Ziegler and mother Margaret Smuck Ziegler and Father Edwin Eugene Ziegler.

A visitation for Thomas will be held Friday, March 28, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM at El Camino Memorial Park, 5600 Carroll Canyon Rd, San Diego, CA 92121, followed by a graveside service from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM. A memorial service will be held at New Life Presbyterian Church- La Mesa, March 29 at 11:00 AM.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Tom’s memory may be made to Westminster Seminary California https://www.wscal.edu/give-to-wsc/