Peter Siegler, allergy physician

Despite a painful past marked by time in Nazi labor and concentration camps, relatives said, Peter Siegler's warm and humorous personality never hardened.

Dr. Siegler, 89, of Haverford, died Wednesday, June 5, of heart disease at his Naples, Fla., townhouse.

The Hungarian native's first impression of America came in 1945, when he was starving and sick after spending about six months in a concentration camp in Austria during his 20s. He was liberated by soldiers, and when he asked for a smoke, a GI handed him not just one cigarette but a pack of Camels.

One New Year's Eve about a decade later, Dr. Siegler and his future wife, Georgina Faludi, who also became a doctor, escaped communist Hungary by fleeing to Austria.

"He was the strongest person internally without ever taking it out," his son Dennis said of the man with an "impish little grin." "He survived World War II, he survived internment in a concentration camp, he survived the Russian occupation of Hungary. . . . Through it all he always had a sense of humor, and that's a hard thing."

Dr. Siegler moved to the United States in 1957 and lived in Penn Valley for about 40 years. He specialized in allergy and immunology at Hahnemann University Hospital and later at Frankford Hospital-Torresdale Campus and Pennsylvania Hospital.

His son Greg said Dr. Siegler greeted friends with a happy "Van szerencsém!" which roughly translates from Hungarian to "Boy, how lucky am I."

"When I look back on that, it was such a cordial, such a sweet thing to say, like he's the lucky one that you're showing up," he said.

About a year after Faludi died in 1999, Dr. Siegler met Marianne Gordon. They were together until his death.

His sons said Dr. Siegler loved taking his family on vacations to warmer climates like the Caribbean.

A history buff who specialized in the Habsburg dynasty, he enjoyed reading works by Winston Churchill.

"He was knowledgeable of everything, and he loved to read," Gordon said. "You could talk to him about everything."

In addition to his sons and Gordon, he is survived by five grandchildren.

Dr. Siegler's body was cremated. Interment is planned for Monday, Sept. 16, at Haym Salomon Memorial Park, Frazer. Details are being finalized.