Robert Minkoff

Dr. Robert Minkoff, generous and kind husband, father, grandfather, colleague, and friend passed away on Wednesday October 18, 2023, at the age of 94. Robert (Bob) was born on December 31, 1928, the younger of two children, to Samuel and Hannah Minkoff in Albany, New York. Bob spent part of his childhood riding his horse Pal and milking cows on a family farm in Upstate New York. He was very close to his older sister Frances (Fritzi), eleven years his senior, who often looked after him, even taking him on her dates to shows in New York City. A stand-out student, he studied chemistry at Cornell University on a New York State science scholarship. His family encouraged him to pursue a career in dentistry, which he did, attending Harvard Dental School in the early 1950's. Bob met Miriam (Mimi) on a blind date arranged by mutual friends while she was still in high school, and he would later remark that he knew he wanted to marry her after that first date. They were married two years later in June of 1954. The amazing love, dedication, and bond they felt towards each other throughout their nearly 70 year marriage impressed everyone who knew them. Theirs was truly a love for the ages.

Bob was drafted into the military and stationed in Rolla, Missouri, during the Korean War. In the Army Bob's duties including training dentists who would later go on to treat soldiers in the field. The grateful patients he treated during this period had often never been to a dentist. After his military service, he and Mimi relocated to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Bob completed his residency in orthodontics and Mimi finished her bachelor's degree in journalism at the University of Michigan. It was in Ann Arbor that the first of their three children (Michelle) was born. The family then moved back to the Boston area where Bob set up his orthodontic practice. Mimi and Bob's other two children (Gail and Susan) were born in Framingham, MA. The family later moved to Wellesley, where they would spend 4 pleasant years. One of Bob's fondest memories was of the summers they spent on Cape Cod. Mimi and the kids would stay on the Cape all summer with Bob driving back and forth each weekend to and from Boston for work. He enjoyed barbecuing dinner for the family and relaxing while reading mysteries. Mimi and Bob would take sunset sails on their little sunfish before dinner, and it was during their time on Cape Cod that Bob began running, a passion he enjoyed for much of his life.

Although his orthodontic practice was thriving, Bob never gave up his original dream of becoming a researcher. He made the unconventional decision to give up the practice to attend MIT for postdoctoral research training. Bob accepted his first academic position at UCLA in 1973, and the family spent 2 years in LA before moving to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he became a faculty member in the Dental School at UNC. As an orthodontic researcher, Bob was recognized for his contributions to the field of craniofacial biology. He was the recipient of several grants from the National Institutes of Health for his research on how cells communicate with each other during bone development, with one application being better understanding of the underlying causes of cleft palate. His work contributed a valuable framework for understanding how the face and jaw develop and the importance of cell to cell contact during this process. A lifelong lover of the outdoors, Chapel Hill was a good fit for Bob. He was a regular evening and weekend runner along streets and trails in the beautiful wooded areas of Chapel Hill, often going for long runs of 15 or more miles on the weekend. Bob loved classical music and opera, and it was also during this time that the family became regular subscribers to the chamber music series held on the Duke University Campus. He enthusiastically attended these Saturday night concerts with Mimi and his daughter Susan for years. At the time he would marvel at the audience members who would bring transistor radios to catch up on the Carolina basketball game scores at intermission.

Mimi jokingly commented that once Bob won a teaching award at a particular institution it was time to move on for a new adventure. After 10 years in North Carolina, Mimi and Bob were looking for a new adventure, with Mimi especially hankering to live back in a big city. They settled in Houston, Texas, where they would remain for the next 34 years, with Bob taking a faculty position at the Dental School at UT Health Science Center in Houston, from which he retired as Emeritus Professor in the early 2000's. Bob was a caring and dedicated teacher and mentor to many students and postdocs, as evidenced by the Christmas cards he received year after year.

In 2018 Mimi and Bob moved to Agoura Hills, CA., where they spent the remainder of their retirement. Bob retained his acute mental clarity into old age, often seeming no different from the person he was 50 years earlier. He was an incredibly kind, intelligent, and generous person. And whether he was talking to one of his daughter's young friends or later to his sons in law, he showed such great interest in what the person was saying that he rendered almost any topic fascinating by virtue of the attention he paid. He was always gracious and appreciative of the efforts of others. Finally, he was an incredibly supportive and deeply loved husband, father, and grandfather who cherished his family. He is deeply missed by his three surviving children, Michelle and her husband Bob, Gail, Susan and her husband John, and his 4 grandchildren (Westy, Sydney, Samuel and Max), and his nephew Gerald. He is predeceased by his loving wife Mimi.