Remembering Werner Rosenau, MD

It is with great sadness that we inform you that Dr. Werner Rosenau, Professor Emeritus of Pathology, has passed away. He will be sorely missed by his family and friends, and as a valued colleague to so many over the past 50+ years. 

He was a "Renaissance" man who loved travel, enjoyed art, and studied science, and loved to teach others. He also served as mentor to many, always with the intent to help each one find their way in pathology and life. He was one of our regular Virchow attendees, and we recall how many of us could hear tales about almost any place in the world where he had surely traveled to at least once! Even to the last years of his life, he fondly thought of us all and sorely missed going to work in our department, but towards the end of his career, perhaps what he loved most was teaching trainees, and his dedication to them had lasting effects. 

As Dr. Jeff Simko recently related to us in his remembrance of Dr. Rosenau:

"Two things that Dr. Rosenau hammered into me: 1.  'Look at everything on the slide' (corollary:  If you are going to be wrong, be wrong on the whole slide, not because you did not look at everything.); and 2. 'Just tell them what you see!' (so easy to say, so difficult to do....)."

Werner is among the longest-standing continuous members of the UCSF community in recent memory. He came to California from Berlin around 1950 and attended both UC Berkeley and UCSF, receiving his MD in 1956. He trained as a resident in our Department of Pathology from '56-'60, and joined the faculty thereafter. 

In memoriam, we are thankful for Dr. Rosenau’s long-standing service and dedication to our department, and fondly remember him as a gentleman, a scholar/professor, a dedicated teacher and mentor, and, of course, as our friend.

Because of the COVID pandemic, the family will not host formal services. However, as a department, Dr. Linda Ferrell would be happy to collect any short stories or letters about Dr. Rosenau to include in the department archive, and she would be happy to pass on any of these notes to the family as well.