Dr. Stephen Michael Herman

Stephen Michael Herman was born on February 14, 1943 at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, New York to Rose and Alexander Herman. Throughout his life, he regarded arriving on St. Valentine's Day as one of his greatest accomplishments. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Poland. They were working class people in New York City. Steve attended New York City public schools and was a graduate of Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. It was during his high school years that he developed a fervent interest in Medicine and received the Department of Biology award as the Honor Graduate of Biological Studies in his class. His primary extracurricular interest in high school was the Boy Scout movement. He rose to the rank of Eagle Scout, was recognized as a Silver Award Explorer, and was a recipient of the Ner Tamid religious award for Boy Scouts of the Jewish faith. Following graduation from Stuyvesant, he enrolled at Brooklyn College at age 16. He did not do well there, grappling with a debilitating bout of depression. He worked for a while, after leaving Brooklyn College, as a laboratory technician in a food processing factory. It was clear that he was not going to get far in life, living at home with his parents. He joined the Army near the end of 1962, shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis. He completed Basic Training at Fort Dix, New Jersey and completed Advanced Individual Training as a nuclear warhead technician at Sandia Base, New Mexico. At Sandia Base, he submitted an application to attend West Point from the enlisted ranks. His first assignment after AIT was with at an Ordinance Depot in Germany where he quickly distinguished himself as a soldier. His application to attend West Point was recognized by the Army and he was assigned to the United States Army Military Academy Preparatory School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, along with 120 other soldiers who would compete for a limited number of Academy appointments. Though he continued to cope with intermittent episodes of depression, he applied himself to his studies with vigor and did very well at the preparatory school. He received an appointment to the United States Military Academy entering in July 1964. His four years at West Point were a wonderful time for him. He was on the Dean’s List for eight consecutive semesters, was elected by his classmates to serve on the Cadet Honor Committee, and rose to the rank of Cadet Battalion Commander in his First Class year. At graduation in 1968, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Armor, attended Ranger and Airborne schools, and served as a platoon leader in the Third Army Calvary Regiment. He deployed to Vietnam in July 1969 and served consecutively as an artillery aerial observer, tank platoon leader, tank company executive officer, and squadron motor officer in the Eleventh Armored Cavalry Regiment. In November 1969, he sustained multiple fragment wounds in an antitank mine explosion and spent one month in the hospital before returning to command his tank platoon in War Zone C. After returning from Vietnam in July 1970, he took command of a tank company at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Though he did quite well in command of a tank company, and subsequently serving as a brigade operations officer, he became progressively more troubled by the self-serving careerism of the Army Officer Corps and decided to pursue a career change, while on active duty, from Armor to the Medical Corps. He matriculated at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in July 1973. After four years at UK, he was recognized as "a Distinguished Graduate," and a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He had the good fortune to wed Carole Adina Charney in May 1972. After nearly 40 years of marriage, Carole departed following a long illness. They accomplished many wonderful things during their four decades of married life, most important of which were nurturing of daughters Amy and Nancy. After medical school, he received postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. Though he had the opportunity to pursue fellowship training at Walter Reed following his residency, he chose instead to take an assignment as Chief of Medicine at Fort Stewart, Georgia. He did so explicitly for the purpose of moving to Savannah, Georgia where his first priority was to raise his family in a safe and beautiful city. It turned out to be a perfect decision. He served at Fort Stewart as an Internist up to retirement as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1986. He practiced Medicine in Savannah for nearly four decades thereafter as a General Internal Medicine physician in solo private practice. He was a physician who dedicated his professional life to providing medical care for patients. 

In May 2012, he married Geraldine Lawson. From the very beginning, he recognized Gerry as an absolute angel, a gift from God. He passed after a short illness on February 25, 2025. His wonderful family includes daughters Amy Comander, Nancy Hait, their husbands Jason and Michael, and grandchildren David, Lily, Emma, Annalise, and Caroline. He always took pride in being an honorable man, sought to be a champion of the weak and those in need, and sought to subscribe to the basic requirements of his Jewish faith: to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.

Graveside services will be held Friday, February 28, 2025, at 1 o'clock in the afternoon at Bonaventure Cemetery.

Remembrances: American Friends of Magen David Adom at https://afmda.org/ or the West Point Jewish Chapel Fund at https://westpointjewishchapelfund.org/ or West Point Jewish Chapel Fund, P.O. Box 84, West Point, NY 10996.