GERBER, SAMUEL R., M.D. (22 Aug. 1898-16 May 1987) modernized the office of Cuyahoga County Coroner during his long tenure (1937-15 Dec. 1986, afterwards, coroner emeritus) and contributed to such celebrated cases as the TORSO MURDERS and the SHEPPARD MURDER CASE. He was honored as Mr. Coroner of North America by the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners (1976). Gerber was born in Hagerstown, MD to Bessie (Nachenson) and Julius H. Gerber and studied at Valparaiso University before enrolling at Cincinnati Eclectic Medical College, where he graduated in 1922. After an internship and residency in New York City, Gerber served as a cruise ship physician and then had a private practice in Scott, OH, in Van Wert County, where he was elected mayor.

Gerber came to Cleveland in 1925 as a member of the city's Department of Health and Welfare, first as physician of the Warrensville Workhouse and 3 years later, of the city's parochial schools. For 15 years, he also maintained a private practice. In March 1933 Gerber was named physician in charge of the Wayfarers Lodge. Although he lost his first bid for coroner on the Democratic ticket in 1934, he won 13 consecutive elections thereafter. In 1949 Gerber graduated from the Cleveland Marshall Law School of CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY and passed the bar, becoming qualified to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court (1955) and the U.S. District Courts (1961). He served on the faculty of the medical school of Western Reserve University (WRU), as associate professor of legal medicine (1952-67), and of CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, as assistant clinical professor of legal medicine (1967-81) and professor emeritus (1981-87). Gerber presided over the GREATER CLEVELAND SAFETY COUNCIL and the medical-legal committee of the ACADEMY OF MEDICINE OF CLEVELAND.

Gerber was first married on 4 Oct. 1926 to Myrtle M. Norcross. They divorced in 1935. His second marriage was to Alma Lee Quartullo on 1 Mar. 1939; the couple divorced in 1948. They had one daughter, Roberta Lee.

Gerber, Samuel R. Statements and Exhibits of S. R. Gerber, Coroner, Cuyahoga County, Ohio: Hearings... (1975).

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