Robert W. McDivitt

Dr. Robert W. McDivitt, born in 1931 in West Sunbury, the son of Boyd and Ruth (McCarrier) McDivitt, died peacefully at home in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Sept. 18, 2021, at the age of 90.

He is survived by his loving wife of 61 years, Candy; his daughters, Lyn Duncan, Kipp Kelley and her husband, Mike; his brother, James McDivitt and his wife, Dorothy; his sister, Carol Scrivner and her husband, Noel; and his sister-in-law, Nancy Speck.

He is also survived by his beloved grandchildren, Micki Duncan, Elias Duncan, Duncan Kelley and Griffin Kelley.An avid reader and writer, Bob was a comparative literature major at Harvard College, attended Yale School of Medicine and served as a house officer on the Osler Medicine Service at Johns Hopkins before finding that pathology was his true calling.In Baltimore, he met the love of his life, Candy, who was a neighbor and nursing student at Johns Hopkins.His anatomic pathology training at Johns Hopkins was followed by a surgical pathology fellowship at Memorial Hospital in New York City. There, in the company of trusted friends and colleagues, Drs. Phil Lieberman, Frank Foote and Fred Stewart, Bob embarked on a career that led to many advances in the field of surgical pathology.Bob and Candy's time in New York City was interrupted when Bob joined the U.S. Air Force, and was stationed for two years at Scott Air Force base in Illinois. While in the Air Force, he attended weekly surgical pathology conferences at Washington University in St. Louis, where Dr. Lauren Ackerman became a close friend and a trusted mentor.Upon returning to New York City, Bob joined the Memorial Hospital as faculty. In collaboration with Drs. Stewart and Berg, he wrote the 2nd Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Fascicle on tumors of the breast, which served as an important pathology reference for decades to follow. Shortly thereafter, he became director of surgical pathology at New York Hospital, where Candy worked as an operating room nurse. A fellow pathology trainee from his Hopkins days, Dr. Bill Cathey, who also served as an usher in their wedding, encouraged Bob to visit Salt Lake City on the heels of a lecture in Denver. With two young daughters, and the cost-of-living differences between New York City and Salt Lake City, Bob and Candy quickly decided to move West. He joined the pathology department at the University of Utah as director of surgical pathology and became involved in the Southwest Oncology Group. By that time, he was a sought-after diagnostician, adviser, collaborator and lecturer.Life in Salt Lake City was good; however, after nearly a decade at the U., Bob and Candy decided to move to St. Louis. His appointment at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis was facilitated by his close relationship with Dr. Lauren Ackerman. As director of anatomic pathology at Jewish Hospital and then Barnes Hospital, his research funded by the National Institutes of Health explored breast cancer with techniques that at the time were novel: flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. He was adept at navigating the challenges of balancing research, diagnostic pathology, teaching and administration.As an expert in breast pathology, Bob enjoyed an active travel schedule, including lectureships on every continent and the Caribbean. After a few years of leading Great Medical Getaways in the Caribbean, Bob and Candy geared up. They obtained their captain's licenses from Annapolis Sailing School, learned celestial navigation, became PADI scuba instructors, and had a 40-foot, live-aboard sailboat built, which they named Charade. When Bob retired, he and Candy enjoyed sailing the Caribbean, returning to New England to visit family during the summers. After a few years, they settled at a yacht club in Trinidad and Tobago, and Bob taught as a senior lecturer at the University of West Indies. He was a beloved teacher and through collaboration with his daughter, Lyn, he revised the pathology curriculum.The cruising life was adventurous; Bob and Candy found a community among fellow sailors. Their daughter Kipp had returned to Salt Lake City with her husband and now had two young children. Ultimately, Bob and Candy retired from the sailing life and moved into a bungalow close to family in Salt Lake City. He joined the faculty of the University of Utah Pathology Department at the invitation of the chairman, Dr. Peter Jensen, one of several faculty at the U., who Bob had known as trainees at Washington University in St. Louis.Bob lived a full life with his wife Candy. In the early days, they enjoyed summer vacations in upstate New York at the Adirondack League Club, with Drs. Foote and Stewart, and outdoor activities with the Campfire Club throughout the year. They learned to tie flies for fishing, shoot skeet and trap, and hunt deer and fowl, activities that were easier to access in Utah than in New York.Dog lovers, they had German shepherds followed by Akitas. Bob was predeceased by his close Akita companion, Miko, by three months.In later years, Bob and Candy enjoyed their simple life in Salt Lake City, with Kipp and family close by, and annual visits for family reunions at Lyn's home in Cape Cod.He remained an avid reader with a book collection that rivals most good libraries. In addition to his published works on breast tumors, in recent years at the encouragement of his daughters, Bob wrote his autobiography.MCDIVITT — A private memorial service for Dr. Robert W. McDivitt, who died Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021, will be held in Cape Cod at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations are much appreciated to the Robert W. McDivitt MD Endowed Fund, Division of Anatomic Pathology at the University of Utah at https://giving.utah.edu/give-now.