Richard Thomas Chambers

Richard T. Chambers, M.D. died of pancreatic cancer at home on Friday, June 8, 2018.  He was born in Brooklyn, NY on March 12, 1955, to Margaret (Peg) Macke and Stanley (Stan) Chambers.  Rick’s sister Jeanne Chambers of Alexandria, Virginia and his sister & brother-in-law Lynn and Jack O’Donnell of Ada, Michigan will miss him more than words can tell.  We shared holidays, vacations, travels to the Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake, and the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Canada, Sunday dinners, hikes in Peace Park, phone calls about everyday life and so much more.  Also surviving Rick are his cousins Merry Macke of Springfield, Virginia and Judy Macke Hawkes of Weyerhaeuser, Wisconsin.

Growing up in River Edge, N.J. he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout and served as senior class president at River Dell High School.  Rick earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biology at the College of William and Mary College in 1977 and, while there, served as President of Sigma Chi Fraternity. He attended the University of Franche-Comte School of Medicine and Pharmacy in Besancon, France, and in 1988 earned his MD degree.  Rick lived in Besancon for more than ten years and made life-long friends including Dominique and Francoise Fellmann, Pierre luc and Laurence Mesnier, Gigi Rigoulot, Andreas Schaffert and many, many others.

Rick returned to the US to complete his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Blodgett Memorial Medical Center/Saint Mary’s Health Care in Grand Rapids, MI.  From July 1992 to September 2010, he served as a Hospitalist at Blodgett Memorial Medical Center/Spectrum Health East.  After that he was a staff physician in Pain & Palliative Care at Mercy Health Saint Mary’s until his retirement at the end of February 2017.

Rick had a knack for making friends with so many people he encountered at work, those who advised him financially, at the gym, during renovation and maintenance of his home that he loved, those who shared his interest in the arts, particularly the theater and music, and many others who touched his life. 

There will be no funeral services but rather a celebration of life gathering, details to follow.

Memorials may be sent in Rick’s name to the Point Foundation at PointFoundation.org

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Richard Thomas Chambers, please visit our floral store.