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[Dick was my father's oldest friend, going back to their days as
classmates at High School of Music where they were both in the
orchestra [along with Stanley Drucker; see my 12/27/22 post re:
his obituary] and at Cornell (in band, orchestra and Beta Sigma
Rho fraternity together). Aside from his focus on the particular concentrations described below Dick also served as Dad's primary
doctor for decades and even did a consultation for me back in
the early 80s. They exchanged phone calls on their respective
97th birthdays this year (Dick was 31 days older than Dad); when
they last spoke about two weeks ago, although Dick had moved to
assisted living several months earlier there was no indication
of his passing being imminent then.]


Richard T. Silver, MD, (1/18/1929-4/17/1929) was Professor Emeritus of
Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, past Attending Physician at The New
York Presbyterian Hospital and the Director Emeritus of the Richard T.
Silver, MD Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Center at Weill Cornell,
established in 2011 by grateful patients in his honor. He was an internationally recognized expert on leukemia and the myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), also known as blood cancers. However, he was a
broad-based hematologist and oncologist.

In practice and as an academician, he specialized in patient-care,
clinical trials and clinical drug development. He was a principal
investigator for many years of a large multidisciplinary cooperative
cancer chemotherapy group (known as Cancer and Leukemia Group B)
sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and served as its Vice
Chairman and Acting Chairman. He was well known for introducing
interferon as a treatment for the MPNs, advocating for its use as a
first-line treatment years before many of his colleagues recognized its disease-altering properties. Based on his longstanding interest in
chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), he was selected as an initial clinical investigator in the first trials of imatinib, which revolutionized
treatment of CML. He was also widely credited with developing and
popularizing the use of the bone marrow biopsy technique used worldwide
for the diagnosis of hematologic disorders, culminating in a landmark
textbook, The Morphology of the Blood and Marrow in Clinical Practice, published in 1970.

During the Korean War he joined the Uniformed (Commissioned) Officers
Corps of the US Public Health Service and was assigned to the leukemia
service, General Medicine Branch of the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
There he served as a clinical associate under some of the pioneers and subsequent leaders of cancer chemotherapy. After training in hematology
and oncology at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical College, he was asked
to spend a year at the University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil to help
establish a residency training program as a Visiting Fulbright
Professor, a project supported in part by the Rockefeller Foundation.
While in Brazil, he journeyed to the Mato Grosso to study the blood
groups of the primitive Indians of the Upper Xingu River region. These activities resulted in published blood group studies. It also led to his subsequent election as a Fellow in the renowned Explorers Club, where he
held numerous committee positions, including the Board of Directors.

In 1968, Dr. Silver founded the Cancer Research & Treatment Fund (CR&T)
with the belief that investing in blood cancer research would lead to
important breakthroughs and a better understanding of the biology and
treatment of all forms of cancer. Since then, CR&T has awarded more than
$17 million in grants to research that has contributed to major advances
in the fight against cancer. Dr. Silver maintained both a large
international hematology-oncology practice and an academic career
lasting into his 90s. He wrote or co-authored 328 peer-reviewed papers,
four books, 46 book chapters, and countless abstracts for national and international meetings. He held 12 distinguished visiting
professorships. He was the convener and co-chair of 16 International
Congresses on the Myeloproliferative Neoplasms, most recently in October
2024.

His many honors included the Wisch Visiting Lectureship Award, Icahn
School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; the European LeukemiaNet Merit Award;
and Outstanding/Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Levine Cancer Institute/University of North Carolina; the Israeli Society of
Hematology and Blood Transfusion; the University of Texas MD Anderson
Cancer Center, and key MPN opinion leaders of Korea, Japan and the
Hematology Society of Taiwan. At Weill Cornell Medicine, in addition to
the Silver MPN Center, the Richard T. Silver Distinguished Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology and the Richard T. Silver Visiting
Professor were named in recognition of his contributions. He received a Lifetime Academic Achievement - Dedication and Service Award in 2011
from the Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College and a Special Achievement
Award from its Alumni Association in 2012.

He remained active in Cornell University and Medical College affairs; he
served as Life Member of the Cornell University Council and was a past President and Senior Advisor of the Weill Cornell Medical College Alumni Association.

He always mentored residents and fellows with great enthusiasm, many of
whom have established successful careers as investigators and medical practitioners. As one recently wrote, "All my discoveries, and I promise they'll be many, will always be a little bit yours as well, simply
because you believed in me and my career."

Dr. Silver was an accomplished clarinetist, graduating from the High
School of Music and Art, where he was first clarinetist of the symphony orchestra and symphonic band, positions which he also held at Cornell University. He played the clarinet in amateur symphonic orchestras,
where he appeared on occasion as a soloist and in chamber music groups.
He never forgot his musical experience at Cornell as an undergraduate.
In 2018, he and his wife endowed the Barbara and Richard T. Silver '50,
MD '53 Associate Professorship in the Department of Music and the
Barbara and Richard T. Silver '50, MD '53 Wind Symphony.

He was predeceased by his parents and brother, Norman. He is survived by
his beloved wife of more than 60 years, Barbara, their son Adam,
granddaughters Stella and Isla, nephews Tom and Jack, niece Nancy
Schlossberg, and numerous family members. Memorial contributions may be
made to Cancer Research & Treatment Fund at www.crt.org

Published in the New York Times, April 20, 2026
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