Herbert Reiman Jr., M.D. (PATH ’77)

Herbert Matthew. “Bert” Reiman, Jr., age 78, died on March 10, 2022, three weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

He was born January 25, 1944, in Riverside, CA before his father was sent to invade Okinawa. After his father’s return, Bert was lucky to have a happy childhood in Louisville, KY as the big brother to two little sisters. The family motto was, “Try to do your best.” He was molded by his family, school, church, and Boy Scouts.

His family moved to Minneapolis in the middle of his Junior year, where he graduated from Washburn H.S. in 1962. He began to believe in equal rights for all people, working for the common good, and trying to work with people to try to find practical solutions to complicated problems, rather than trying to impose simple solutions or moral judgements that almost always seemed to him to be the wrong answer.

He attended the University of Minnesota and in 1969 graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School. After internships at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, GA, he and his wife, Dr. Jane Larson Reiman, spent three years at Sabana Seca, Puerto Rico where he served as the only Medical Officer at a small Navy base. There they began raising their family.

In 1973 Bert began specialty training in Pathology at Mayo Clinic, and Jane began her specialty training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Pathology was a good fit because of its scientific and practical base as well as the possibility that it would allow him to spend more time with their now three daughters in a two-doctor family.

His next step was working in hospital-based Pathology in Louisville, KY before returning to Mayo, Rochester, in 1980 as a consultant in Surgical Pathology. Jane was also able to return as a consultant in PM&R. Change came again in 1989 when the family moved to Park Ridge, IL where Bert was head of a hospital-based Pathology group. In 1994 he became head of a different and larger hospital-based Pathology group, also in the Chicago area. The goal of giving a correct answer at the right time for any diagnostic or laboratory question or problem, whether it was for a patient, a physician, or an organizational issue was challenging and fulfilling.

In 2002 Bert and Jane returned to Rochester upon Bert’s retirement. In retirement, he struggled with golf at RGCC but he enjoyed it. He was also active at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, singing in the choir, serving for many years as a student mentor at Sunset Terrace School, volunteering in the Sunset Terrace backpack program to provide food for students over weekends, and other activities as able. Working out, sometimes more, sometimes less at the Rochester Athletic Club was a constant. Participating in three different book groups kept him reading. Yard and snow work and keeping his woods was a big job until he and Jane moved to Charter House in 2016. A final pleasure was to visit daughters and their families as often as possible and travel with each of his eight grandchildren on special trips to Europe.

He was preceded in death by parents, Herbert M. Reiman and Nancy Ann (Watkins) Reiman. Survived by wife, Jane L. (Larson) Reiman; daughters Anne C. (David) Sporrer, Susan L. (Thomas) Angel and Emily J. (Christopher) Goemans; grandchildren Matthew, Nathan and Paul Sporrer; Oscar, Finn, and Peter Angel; Sophie and Howard Goemans; and sisters, Mary J. Flanigin, and Elizabeth A.(Douglas) Younger.

A memorial service will be held at 10:00 AM on Saturday, March 19, 2022, at Ranfranz and Vine Funeral Home, 5421 Royal Place NW, Rochester, MN. The Rev. Justin Chapman will officiate. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service, starting at 9:00 AM. Interment will be in Union Cemetery, St. Paul, MN, at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to a charity of your choice. Ranfranz and Vine Funeral Home is honored to be serving the Reiman family; to share a special memory or condolence please visit www.ranfranzandvinefh.com