Marshall Freedman had no pretense about him — he would walk around the hospital in old jeans and a T-shirt adorned with a witty phrase underneath bright red suspenders. His patients weren’t sure if he was just a kind old man or an expert in his field who worked tirelessly to serve his patients and his community.
“He was really a person for the common people, he had no truck with demagogues or people who had all the answers,” said Jonathan Freedman, his son. “He was always for pulling people up, not bringing them down.”
Marshall Arthur Freedman died from prostate cancer on June 12 at his home. He was 95.
Freedman was one of the first doctors in Colorado to specialize in gastroenterology, the study and treatment of digestive diseases. He pioneered the use of new diagnostic equipment and co-founded Denver Clinical Labs, the first commercial, computer-operated laboratory for urinalysis and blood tests in Denver.
After his retirement, Freedman stayed involved with the medical community by volunteering five days a week at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and serving on the University of Colorado Hospital’s academic appointments and liver transplant committees. An annual lecture in his name at the Department of Gastroenterology at the University of Colorado Medical Center honors young fellows in the department.
“Must have been 15 years or so that he contributed every week, multiple times a week, to the GI division. No one in the history of the program devoted that much time as a volunteer,” said Dr. Dennis Ahnen, a professor of gastroenterology at the University of Colorado. “He was an important part of the community.”
Outside of medicine, Freeman and his wife, Betty, were avid art collectors and were involved in the art community in Denver. They were active trustees of the Denver Art Museum as it built the North Building in 1971.
Freedman also loved to garden and gave hundreds of potted plants to patients, doctors and nurses at the Denver VA Medical Center.
“When I think of my dad, he was really in tune with the Rocky Mountain Colorado values,” Jonathan Freedman said. “He is an inspiration for people to come to town, see the opportunities, the challenges and really pitch in and put their shoulder to the wheel and really help grow this place. He was always that kind of guy.”
Freedman was born March 2, 1921, in Elizabeth, N.J., to Robert and Helen Burke Freedman. He attended high school at Baltimore City College in Baltimore, Md., then graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and its Medical School on a fast-track program during WWII that also saw him end up as a captain in the U.S. Army.
He married his first love, Betty Sue Borwick of Denver, on Aug. 16, 1947. After the war, he continued his medical training, including residencies at Mount Sinai in New York, Los Angeles County Hospital and the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn.
Freedman and his wife moved to Denver in 1954. He retired from private practice when he was in his mid-70s, his son said.
Freedman is survived by his wife, Betty, a son, Jonathan, of Burlingame, Calif.; a daughter, Tracy, of San Francisco, Calif.; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. One son, Douglas, died in 1954.
A celebration of Freedman’s life will be held later this summer.
Donations may be made in Freedman’s name to the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, division of gastroenterology.
