Clifford "Cliff" Waldman Md

Guilderland - Clifford (“Cliff”) Waldman, MD, age 69, passed away on May 8, 2021 at his home surrounded by his family after a long illness. Born in Connecticut in 1952 to Beatrice and Murry Waldman, Clifford discovered his passion for science and medicine after reading a biography of Louis Pasteur in elementary school. He carried that passion all the way to Harvard University (Class of 1974), where, in addition to majoring in Biology, he played alto saxophone in the Harvard University Band and enthusiastically participated in the Society for Creative Anachronism. Upon graduating from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in 1978 and completing his residency in Family Practice at Toledo Hospital in Ohio in 1981, Clifford embarked upon a nearly 35-year career that encompassed a wide range of professional interests. Early in his career, he served as Associate Director of Allegheny Family Physician’s Family Practice Residency Program (Altoona Hospital, Pa.), Medical Director for the hospital’s Center for Sports Medicine, team doctor for the Bellwood-Antis high school football team, and as Sports Medicine Physician for the University of Delaware. Eager to make an even broader impact, Dr. Waldman eventually transitioned to a career in Managed Care, serving as Medical Director for health systems across the Pittsburgh and Youngstown areas and as Chief Medical Officer at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital. Most recently, he served as Senior Medical Director at both CDPHP and MVP Health Care in the Capital Region, New York. Although he was quite proud of his career achievements, Clifford was even more proud to be a devoted father and husband. He met his wife, Sarah, in 1977 and proposed to her after only three weeks. Short though their courtship was, it produced unbreakable bonds of love and friendship that endured for over 44 years and produced two sons, Jason (Amy) and Martin (Maria). Even when the demands of his chosen profession consumed most of his waking hours and took him far from home, Clifford remained ever determined to be an active participant in his sons’ lives, attending countless band concerts, taking them to sports events, splashing red ink across their school assignments with his practiced editorial pen, and providing constant guidance and encouragement as they pursued their own careers. This same love and devotion extended to his young grandchildren, Carter and Harper, both of whom he adored (and spoiled) in equal measure. When not busy with a career in medicine and raising a family, Clifford was an avid jigsaw puzzler, a voracious reader of science fiction and fantasy, a life-long New York Giants fan, a devoted animal lover, an aspiring woodworker, gardener, and photographer, and a discerning collector of assorted exercise equipment and kitchen gadgets. Above all else, he loved spending time with his wife, devoting lazy nights with her to watching mysteries, British comedies, and home improvement shows, attending performances at Proctors Theater, and traveling to Taiwan and Alaska. Although their journey together in this life has ended after 44 years, his love for her endures, in his own words, “Forever and Ever.” Clifford is survived by his wife, his two sons, his two grandchildren, his brother, Bart (Nancy), his brother-in-law, Frank McCann (Iris), his best friend, Dr. Donald Levine (Roseanne), and countless friends and family near and far. Both he and his family wish to thank Dr. Robert J. Soiffer and the entire team at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, his primary care physician, Dr. William Kowal, the health care team at NYOH, and the staff from D4E, Albany Medical Center, for their unceasing efforts on his behalf. The family will hold a private funeral at a future date, but memorial donations can be sent to either Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (www.dana-farber.org/gift) or the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society, 3 Oakland Ave., Menands, NY 12204.