T. H. Brem, 79; Former Head of USC Dept. of Medicine

Dr. Thomas Hamilton Brem, chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Southern California School of Medicine from 1958 to 1972, has died. He was 79.

Brem died Thursday of a heart seizure at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena four days after undergoing surgery for colon cancer, said USC spokesman Gordon Cohn.

“Tom Brem was an absolutely outstanding human being and physician-teacher,” said Dr. Jesse L. Steinfeld, former U.S. surgeon general. “He inspired integrity and loyalty in his faculty, students and other colleagues through his words and actions. He was the most influential teacher and physician in my career.”

Born Oct. 3, 1910, in the Panama Canal Zone, Brem grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from Fairfax High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Stanford University and his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University.

After his residency at Stanford, Brem taught at USC and then served in the Army Medical Corps in the China-Burma-India theater during World War II. After teaching for a few years at UCLA, he returned to USC in 1954, becoming acting dean of the School of Medicine in 1956.

In 1958, he was chosen head of the department of medicine and retained that position until his retirement in 1972.

During those years, he often criticized efforts by the Board of Supervisors to ease overcrowding at County-USC Medical Center.

“It would be very helpful but piddling,” he rated one such push in 1970, “because the recommendations pay no attention to the gross inefficiencies and inadequacies which have plagued the hospital for years.”

Brem was a former chairman of the Special Medical Advisory Committee to the Veterans Administration, and former president of the Los Angeles Society of Internal Medicine and of the Los Angeles Academy of Medicine.

He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Elizabeth Bloss Brem, and two sons, Tom Jr. and Stephen. A third son, Todd, was drowned two years ago in Brazil while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer.

A memorial service is planned for 2 p.m. Sunday, April 8, in the Oneonta Congregational Church, South Pasadena.

The family has asked that memorial contributions be made to the USC School of Medicine, KAM-700, 2025 Zonal Ave., Los Angeles, Calif., 90033.