Martin M. Widelitz

WIDELITZ
DR. MARTIN M. "BUDDY"

Age 93. Beloved father of four, grandfather of eight, passed away after a short but fierce battle on April 19, 2020, following days of family by his side sharing their love for him. His family meant the world to him and was first and foremost in his life.
An extremely curious and passionate man with a lifelong quest for the meaning of life never realized his own life epitomized what life is all about. After serving in the Navy as a Medical Corpsman in World War II, he attended medical school on the GI Bill in Lausanne, Switzerland without prior knowl-edge of French, purchased a sailboat without ever sailing, started skiing in his forties, took up the cello in his sixties unable to read music, achieved a black belt in Taekwondo on his 78th birthday and began learn-ing Italian in his late 70s and Mandarin Chinese in his nineties.
His medical career led him to shift his focus to neuro-chemical research in the hope that it would have an impact on a greater number of people while accepting that this would result in a diminution of his earn-ing capacity. He was adamant that this was his calling.
His major enthusiasm for sports started in his youth as captain of his baseball and basketball teams and extended to his box-ing career in the Navy. His grandchildren had no bigger fan when competing in sports.
His altruistic endeavors included conducting drug rehab-ilitation sessions and out of his passion for the Native American Culture, working for the Indian Health Services in Gallup, New Mexico providing medical services to this underserved population. His spirituality was strongly influenced by the Native American beliefs.
He was passionate about politics and was a lifelong progressive who decried injustice. When he received his recent cancer diagnosis, the only question he asked the oncologist was if he would live long enough to vote Trump out of office.
This is just a small sampling of the rich and full life he lived in his quest to find life's meaning.
A private Graveside Service was held on April 22nd with a celebration of his life planned for a future date. In lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory may be made to the First Nations Development Institute
https://www.firstnations.org
Indivisible.org or
feedingamerica.org

www.levinefuneral.com