Martin Conrad Carr

Martin Conrad Carr, MD (b. 1934) was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, by loving parents, Helen and Louis Carr. He attended Stuyvesant High School and University of Vermont, where he majored in history, played varsity basketball, and fell in love with Jeanette Rubinstein. After marrying, graduating from New York University medical school (under the inspirational mentorship of Dr. Lewis Thomas), and completing residency at the Brooklyn Jewish Hospital, he received an offer from UCSF Medical School and moved his young family away from the cold winters of New York to California.

In 1968, following a two-year hiatus in Wyoming where he had been drafted as a doctor into the Air Force, Jeanette, Marty and their three children returned to Marin, this time to Belvedere, five houses down from Belvedere School, where they would continue to live for some 55 years. Years later, he would leave the academic world to open a private medical practice, and for more than 40 years he was a respected and well-appreciated San Francisco gynecologist. A student of history, Marty cared deeply about the well-being of the United States and the survival, too, of Israel.

Marty was a dedicated husband to Jeanette, the love of his life, and a proud father to Joel Carr, Valerie Zakovitch and Linda Carr, father-in-law to Joan Diengott, Yair Zakovitch and Steve Tornallyay, grandfather to six beautiful grandchildren and great-grandfather to three. He was a keen investor in the stock market and reader of the Wall Street Journal, an avid golfer, lover of iced tea, pistachios and all sorts of baked goods. He was a fan of Jane Austen and of early Hollywood movies, a life-long student of history and politics, and an expert, in particular, on American and 20th Century European history.

Marty was a man of principle and firm opinions, which he expressed fervently. He will be remembered as both a romantic and a realist, cautious in life (if adventuresome in stocks) and adoring of his wife. He was an optimist, saying, “Things tend to work out.” On February 9, a month before his 92nd birthday, Marty died in his home in Belvedere, surrounded by his beloved family, grateful for the life he lived.