Colorado infectious-disease doctor Susan Mason devoted herself to helping cure people in their difficult moments, starting in the 1980s with the spread of AIDS.
Mason died Jan. 1 after battling rheumatoid arthritis. She was 63.
She faced a rare medical situation, “the kind of situation she would have thrived in trying to solve,” said her brother, Rabbi Steven Mason of Chicago.
Mason was born in Cambridge, Mass. After graduating from Tufts University Medical School, she came to Colorado for her residency at the University of Colorado. She intended to be an obstetrician, devoted to women caring for women. Then she found her forte battling infectious diseases. This led to a long private practice.
“She was a great physician for patients. She really went above and beyond. If you were her patient, you felt like you were her only patient,” Steven Mason said.
“She was driven by an overall desire to help people and do what is right and good for them and make a real, substantive difference for the good of peoples’ lives.”
Medical colleagues who spoke at a service Sunday at Temple Emanuel noted her compassion during the AIDS crisis and saluted her “intolerance for injustice.”
They are qualities that inspired her husband, Rick Wedgle, and their daughter, Julia, 22, a recent Tufts graduate.
Mason’s time at Tufts included protests against the Vietnam war. In Denver, she supported human rights and civil rights causes.
“She was always standing up for what is right,” Julia Wedgle said. “She taught me how to be an activist and a feminist. She made me always want to do the right thing. And she taught me to love the ocean.”
Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700, bfinley@denverpost.com or @finleybruce
