Richard D. Berkowitz, 80, doctor, teacher

Richard David Berkowitz, 80, a teacher and physician at Temple University Hospital, died Aug. 23 of acute myeloid leukemia at his Berwyn home.

An internist, Dr. Berkowitz was part of the hospital's Comprehensive Medical Clinic from 1960 to 1968, before he became director of its employee health service. As director, he was physician to most of the school's medical students, often called on to reassure them that they had not acquired the last disease they had studied.

"He had to be a good diagnostician," said his wife, Letty Lee Dahme-Berkowitz. "So many of his former students will say, 'He got me through medical school.' "

Dr. Berkowitz also taught internal medicine, she said. He retired as an associate professor of medicine emeritus in 1992.

Born in Boston to a prominent musical family, he graduated from Harvard College (where he played clarinet in the school band) in 1950, and earned his M.D. at Tufts University Medical School in 1954.

He then was a medical captain with the Army's 82d Airborne Division and at the military hospital at Fort Dix, N.J., and did his residency at Philadelphia Veterans' Affairs Medical Center.

In 1965, he married Constance Zucker, with whom he had a son, David, whom he raised after their divorce in 1972.

Dr. Berkowitz's hobbies included music, coin-collecting, chess, and stargazing, and he taught celestial navigation while serving as education officer for the Main Line Power Squadron.

He remarried in 1989, and, after he retired, he and his wife spent months at a time sailing the Adriatic or the Maine Coast, or living in London.

"He taught me what life and love were about," Dahme-Berkowitz said. In 1997, he joined the Society of Friends, to which she belongs, "because he cared for the principle of nonviolent conflict resolution."

Besides his son and wife, Dr. Berkowitz is survived by a stepson, Andrew Zucker; stepdaughters Elizabeth Krick, Margaret Mayer, and Kathryn Dahme; and four grandchildren.

A memorial service is planned for the spring.

Contributions in his memory may be made to the Delaware Valley Friends School, 19 E. Central Ave., Paoli, Pa., 19301.