Charles Bloomgarden, ophthalmologist and Navy veteran, dies at 83

Charles I. Bloomgarden was a longtime eye doctor on Long Island who served in the Navy, taught ophthalmology and maintained his own practice, according to his widow, Joan Bloomgarden.

She described her husband of 62 years as a man of “character, dignity, soft-spoken support and positive, gentle, kind ways.”

“His family counted on him for his strong and broad knowledge base that had us tracking him down when we wanted answers before Google arrived,” Joan said.

Charles Irving Bloomgarden died last Thursday at his sister-in-law's home in Delray Beach, Florida, of complications from Parkinson’s disease, Joan said. He was 83.

Aside from ophthalmology, Bloomgarden had other pursuits, Joan said: “He loved his challenging bicycle trips,” which took the couple to France, Germany, Belgium, Canada, “and all over the U.S.,” she said. He also played tennis.

Bloomgarden was born at Brooklyn Jewish Hospital in Prospect Heights on April 19, 1936, to Gertrude Goldstein Bloomgarden, a homemaker, and Morris Bloomgarden, a lawyer. He was raised in Laurelton, Queens.  

Bloomgarden completed his undergraduate studies at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and then medical school at New York University. While a med student in 1957, he married Joan Schwartzman, whom he had met when he was 15 and she 13, she said.

He did his medical residency at Kings County Medical Center in Brooklyn, and he was a doctor at a sleepaway camp early in his career. He also served in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant commander in the medical corps, including at the naval hospital in St. Albans, Queens, according to a copy of an appointment letter provided by his widow. The years of service were 1965 to 1967. He was an “oculist,” a certificate she also provided.

The couple moved to Long Island because of family ties and to remain close to siblings and parents, Joan said. The family would go on to live in Huntington Station, Cold Spring Harbor and Huntington Village.

Bloomgarden last lived in Huntington. He was chief of ophthalmology at Huntington Hospital from 1983 to 1995. He was also chair of the Guide Dog Foundation in Smithtown.

He taught ophthalmology at Stony Brook University early on while in private practice in Huntington, and after he retired from the practice went on to teach at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow. In retirement, he attended classes at Hofstra in a program for older learners called Personal Enrichment in Retirement, or PEIR.

“He loved learning and teaching,” Joan said.

He took over family responsibilities when Joan returned to school to pursue a master’s degree in creative arts therapy, and a PhD in professional psychology, she said.

Joan remains associate professor at Hofstra, where she’s taught for more than three decades.

In addition to Joan, Bloomgarden is survived by two daughters and a son, as well as a goddaughter and her son, whom the couple considered a godgrandson; the two lived with the Bloomgardens. 

Bloomgarden, who was Jewish, most recently attended religious services at the Chabad houses in Melville and Huntington.

There was a graveside service at New Montefiore Cemetery on Sunday, according to Star of David Memorial Chapels' website.

The family asked that instead of flowers, donations be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which is seeking a cure for Parkinson’s.