Clarence H. Soderberg Jr. ’49

Clarence H. Soderberg Jr. ’49, of East Greenwich, R.I.; May 15. While at Brown his education was interrupted by service during World War II. He attended Tufts Medical School and completed his internship and surgical residency at Rhode Island Hospital. In 1959, he began his private surgical practice at Rhode Island Hospital, and by 1960 he became a board certified specialist. One of his proudest accomplishments was being part of the team that performed the first open heart surgery in Rhode Island. Later he became the chief of Rhode Island Hospital’s second surgical service and also taught at Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School, where he was a clinical associate professor and recipient of the Medicine Emeriti Award for outstanding service to medical education. He was active in national and international clinical research groups and he wrote/cowrote more than 30 papers published in surgical journals. He was chief of the Cancer and Acute Leukemia Study Group at Rhode Island Hospital, served as the secretary and treasurer of the Rhode Island Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, and was on the Executive Committee of the New England Cancer Society. He retired in 1995 and began oil and watercolor painting, eventually becoming an exhibiting/artist member of the Providence Art Club. He was also an active leader in Rhode Island Freemasonry, was medical director of the Palestine Temple Shriners, a member of the Board of Governors at the Shriner’s Children’s Hospital and a Knight Commander of the Temple. He enjoyed playing tennis at the Warwick Heights Tennis Club, going to the beach at The Dunes Club, going to the movies, and having a Bombay Sapphire martini every evening at 6:30 p.m. He is survived by three children and their spouses, and five grandchildren.