Bertram (Bert) Lubin, former assistant professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, died June 27 at his home in Berkeley from a brain tumor. He was 81.

Born in the Bronx in 1939, Dr. Lubin moved to Pennsylvania when he was 7 and grew up near Pittsburgh where he worked at George’s Fruit Market owned by his parents.

Dr. Lubin was the first in his family to graduate college and one of four in his high school class to attend college. Dr. Lubin earned a bachelor’s degree from Washington & Jefferson College and his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. His pediatric residency was at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Dr. Lubin was drafted into the US Army and served in Vietnam at a provincial health program. Afterward, he returned to the US for a hematology/oncology fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. He then returned to CHOP in 1965 as an assistant instructor of pediatrics. He also directed the hematology laboratory. In 1972 he became an assistant professor in the same department. 

In 1973, Dr. Lubin joined Children’s Hospital Oakland as chief of hematology and oncology, starting its CHORI research program, where he helped contribute to blood-disease breakthroughs. His advocacy on sickle-cell disease screening for newborn children led California to become the first state to require such efforts.

In 2009, he became the hospital’s president and CEO and the first pediatrician to lead a children’s hospital in the state. His leadership outside the hospital doors helped forge its later tie with the University of California San Francisco. He also founded the hospital’s Center for Community Engagement.

Dr. Lubin made numerous philanthropic efforts and served on multiple regional boards, including the Oakland mayor’s Health Task Force, Oakland Promise, and the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.

He is survived by his wife, Vivian Scharlach; six children; and seven grandchildren.