Dr. Seymour M. Farber; Physician, Educator, Lung Cancer Expert

Dr. Seymour M. Farber, 83, physician, author and educator who was an expert on lung cancer. Farber was a member of the health sciences faculty of UC San Francisco from 1942 until his retirement in 1977, including posts as dean and vice chancellor. Known for humanizing medicine, Farber always encouraged his students to follow his practice of getting to know a patient and learning about his or her family, background and aspirations. Farber served as president of the American College of Physicians and in 1971 earned the Outstanding Educator of America award. He lectured worldwide and worked extensively with academic and medical leaders of Pacific Rim countries. As a consultant to the U.S. surgeon general, Farber worked in Japan on that nation’s medical problems after World War II. He became a student of Mexican art after treating Diego Rivera as a patient and receiving a landscape from the artist. Farber was a commissioner of the San Francisco Asian Art Museum. A native of Buffalo, N.Y., he earned degrees at the University of Buffalo, Harvard University and St. Mary’s College of Moraga, Calif. On Monday in San Francisco.