Bernard Charles Gerber, M.D., F.A.C.S.

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Bernard Charles Gerber, M.D., FACS, 90, of Aberdeen, passed away Sunday, December 4, 2016, at Avera Mother Joseph Manor in Aberdeen, SD, from pancreatic cancer.

Mass of Christian burial will be 10:30 a.m., Monday, December 12, 2016, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 409 3rd Avenue SE, Aberdeen, with Father Barry Reuwsaat as celebrant.

Burial will follow at Sacred Heart Cemetery.

Visitation will be 4-6 p.m., Sunday, at the mortuary, followed by a liturgical wake service at 6:00 p.m.  Visitation continues one hour prior to Mass at the church on Monday.

Memorials, in Bernard’s memory, are preferred to Avera@Home Hospice (formerly North Plains Hospice) endowed fund, 201 South Lloyd St - Suite 210 West, Aberdeen, SD  57401 or Northern State University Foundation (Henry P. Gerber Scholarship Fund), 620 15th Avenue SE, Aberdeen, SD  57401.

Bernard Charles Gerber was born in Aberdeen, SD, on November 25, (Thanksgiving Day) 1926.  He was the eighth child of Professor Henry Philip and Agnes (Egan) Gerber. He attended Sacred Heart Elementary School, Simmons Junior High and graduated from Aberdeen Central High School in 1944. During the time he attended elementary school and junior high he delivered a newspaper route (#20) for the American News. While in high school he attained over one thousand hours of machine shop training at the National Defense Training School at Northern State Teachers College (now Northern State University). He worked evenings and summers as a machine operator at Hub City Iron Works (turret lathe operator) and K. O. Lee Company (cylindrical grinder operator) to help in the war effort.

He began attending Northern State Teachers College during his senior year at Central High School from September 1943 until his induction into the U.S. Army in March 1945. Following infantry basic training at Camp Hood, Texas, he was sent to Leyte, Philippine Islands, as a replacement infantryman for the invasion of Japan. The peace treaty with Japan was signed while he was en route and Bernard was assigned to a hospital unit, where he was trained as a surgical technician (for a period of time also working as an anesthetist) at the 117th Station Hospital at Palo, Leyte (later to be designated as the 90th Field Hospital). This hospital was to become the sole medical unit on the island and was subsequently designated as the 1st Field Hospital when it moved to Tacloban, Leyte Island.

It was his work as a surgical technician that inspired him to decide that medicine was the career he wanted to make his life’s work. He returned to the United States and was discharged with the rank of T/3 in December 1946. Following honorable discharge from the service, he resumed his studies at Northern in teacher education and pre-medicine, graduating in 1949 with a Bachelor of Science degree with majors in chemistry and biology and a minor in history.

He graduated from the University of South Dakota School of Medicine in 1951 with a B.S. in Medical Science. He received the Doctor of Medicine degree from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago in June 1953. He completed his internship and General Surgical residency at Northwestern University, serving as the Allen B. Kanavel Fellow in Surgery during his final year (Passavant Memorial Hospital) in Chicago in June 1958.

Bernard served under Dr. Loyal Davis, Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Northwestern and Chief at Passavant. Dr. Davis was a legendary “chief” who instilled values such as honesty, discipline, strict work habits and above all, dedication to and respect for one’s patients. Marcella always said that Dr. Davis was “his second father”.

Bernard and Marcella A. (Aslesen) of Waubay, SD, were married at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Aberdeen, on September 15, 1951 and moved to Chicago to complete his education at Northwestern University Medical School.

Following completion of his General Surgical Residency in 1958, they moved to Williamson, West Virginia, where he practiced with the Miners Memorial Hospital. In January 1960 they moved to Aberdeen, SD, where he practiced until his retirement in 1992. He was certified by the American Board of Surgery in 1959 and was conferred a Fellowship in the American College of Surgeons in 1962. He was elected to membership in the Western Surgical Society in 1977. He served the American College of Surgeons in various offices, including Chairman of the State Advisory Committee, Governor for South Dakota for two three-year terms, State Chairman and Field Liaison Cancer Coordinator for six years, in addition to serving as President of the South Dakota Chapter and other chapter positions.

Dr. Gerber was a Clinical Instructor in Surgery at Northwestern University from 1955 through June 1958. He served on the faculty of the University of South Dakota School of Medicine, attaining the rank of full Clinical Professor in 1981. He served five years as a consulting editor for the journal Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics. He was the author of seven published papers in various national peer reviewed medical publications.

Dr. Gerber believed in fully participating and giving back to the community. He served on many local civic boards, including the Northeastern Mental Health Center for over 31 years (serving as president for five years), South Dakota Mental Health Association Board of Directors, S.D. Farm Safety Council, SD Division of American Cancer Society Board of Directors. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of St. Luke’s Hospital for six years and was a member of the Physicians Advisory Council of the Presentation Health System (the predecessor of Avera Health System).

He was an original incorporator (with two Presentation Sisters) of North Plains Hospice in 1975 and served on its Board of Directors until it was merged into the Avera St Luke’s organization, serving as its first president for five years. After Hospice merged with Avera St. Luke’s, he then served on its Home Health and Hospice Advisory Board. He also served four years as a member of the Board of Directors of Marshall County Memorial Hospital in Britton, SD.  His name was placed on the Professional Services Building in 2005 in honor of his long service to the Northeastern Mental Health Center.  He served a three-year gubernatorial appointment on the South Dakota Board of Examiners in Basic Sciences beginning in 1975.
He was one of the organizers of the Physicians Plaza Condominium and served as the Secretary/Treasurer of the Council of Co-Owners from its inception in 1975 until 2015.

Dr. Gerber was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of Northern State College in 1978. In 1992, he was given the Physician Award for Meritorious Service by the South Dakota Hospice Organization. He was awarded a three-year Bush Clinical Fellowship in 1987 by the Bush Foundation of St. Paul. He was named Outstanding School Board Member in 1995 by the Associated School Boards of South Dakota and he was also recognized by the South Dakota Legislature for this honor. In 2015, Bernard was honored for Distinguished Service by the Aberdeen Central High School Foundation Hall of Fame.

Dr. Gerber had a lifelong interest in education. He was elected to a five-year term on the School Board of the Aberdeen Independent School District in 1969. He again ran for election to the School Board for a three-year term in 1984 and was subsequently re-elected to two additional terms completing a total of seventeen years on the board.  He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of various non-profit foundations, including the Northeastern Mental Health Foundation, Northern State University Foundation, St. Luke’s Foundation, and the Avera Foundation.

He believed in and enjoyed active participation in the community including his surgical practice, the founding and guiding of North Plains Hospice and his service on the Aberdeen District School Board.

Dr. Gerber took great pride in the accomplishments of his children, grandchildren and siblings. He had great pleasure maintaining his home, yard and working in his greenhouse. He also enjoyed photography and walking. He was an avid reader with special interests in history and biography. He especially enjoyed world travel, in particular chasing and photographing total solar eclipses (of which he saw ten in various parts of the world spending nearly 38 minutes in the shadow of the moon). He enjoyed art, accumulating a collection of print art, mainly of American artists of the second half of the 20th century. Bernard was a lifelong member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Aberdeen.

Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Marcella; two daughters, Karen A. (Richard) Smith of Hayti, SD and Jean L. Gerber of Aberdeen; four sons: Charles B. Gerber of Boulder, CO, Martin T. (LeAnne Gallipo) Gerber of Maple Grove, MN, Lawrence E. Gerber of Fargo, ND and Christopher J. Gerber, of St. Paul, MN; five granddaughters; four great-grandsons; and one great-granddaughter. He is also survived by one sister, Pauline Lloyd-Davies (Arthur-deceased), Aberdeen; one brother, Thomas L. (LaEtta) of Sturgis, SD; and former sister-in-law, Millie (Gerber) Lockington of Aberdeen; along with numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; one sister, (Mary Louise, age 3, deceased in 1918), and five brothers; H. John (Mildred-deceased), Menomonie, WI; Robert W. (Joy), Del Mar, CA; Philip L. (Eugenia), Brockport, NY; Edward P., Reno, NV and James J. (Nell), Modesto, CA.