Robert (Bob) Franklin died on Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018, at his home in Vineyard Haven at the age of 92.
Bob was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on July 6, 1926, to Theodore and Rose Franklin (née Levis). He moved to Los Angeles in 1936, where he completed high school before joining the Navy in 1944. He served aboard the USS Helena in the Pacific Theater as a radar and communications technician until the end of World War II.
After the war, Bob attended UCLA, followed by BU Medical School. In Boston he met and married Helen Grace Carlson in 1951. He interned in pediatrics at Boston City Hospital and at the University of Illinois (Chicago). He returned to the Boston area in 1954, setting up a pediatrics practice in Westwood, where he lived and worked until his semi-retirement in 1999. During that time Bob was active in community affairs, served as chief of staff at the Norwood Hospital, and trained new physicians as an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at his alma mater.
In 1999, Bob and Grace moved to Martha’s Vineyard, where the family had vacationed for many years. There Bob continued his practice of pediatrics on a part-time basis, also serving on the town of Tisbury’s board of health and finance committee for several years, until finally retiring in 2014 at the age of 88.
Bob traveled extensively during his life, within the U.S. and Europe, Russia, and China, with his wife Grace, who died in 2006, and later with Jacquie. He enjoyed tennis, golf, sailing, and classical music, especially by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He also was an avid bridge player.
He is survived by his dear friend, Jacqueline (Jacquie) Renear; daughter Martha Braunstein; son Jeffrey Franklin; grandchildren Eric Braunstein (wife Lauren Braunstein), and Laura Braunstein-Freiberg (husband Scott Freiberg) and their daughters, his great-grandchildren, Farrah and Bianca Freiberg.
Bob was loved by his family, friends, and patients, and respected by his colleagues. He will be missed by all. Plans for a memorial service will be announced.
