Gerald Marc Eisenberg

November 14th, 2025

It was with great sadness that I heard of Gerry’s passing. I knew him as a colleague for 25 years since my arrival at Lutheran General Hospital. He was an outstanding rheumatologist who showed compassion for and sincerely cared for his patients. He was respected by his colleagues as an experienced and highly knowledgeable physician. He always provided helpful advice with any issues that came up in medical practice. Most of all he showed kindness to everyone he interacted with including patients, physicians, and other coworkers . He will be truly be missed by his wonderful family, and his friends, colleagues, and patients. May his memory be a blessing.

~Sydney Brandwein MD
~Colleague, Highland Park, Illinois

November 14th, 2025

Gerry embodies the meaning of the word MENCH. He was a great doctor and compassionate person. One example is when he finished examining an elderly patient and then buttoned the man’s shirt. Small deed that many would not realize the true significance. I did.!
Gerry was with me during the first procedure I performed at Lutheran. My memories will not fade. When we used to have lunches at the deli, in Highland park… I wondered why he liked a Tongue sandwich on Rye or Borsht with sour cream. I ate a hard salami on rye. He represented the era of our parents and grandparents. We were tought to pray in Hebrew by the same man Herman Jordani! Gerry was taught in Austin and me West Rogers Park. Even his mother had the same chochkees on the table in the living room. As my own mother . When I discovered all of this I realized we were both cut from the same cloth. I will miss him but I feel he completed a great part of my life and profession.

~Wayne Goldstein
~Friend and partner, highland park Illinois

November 13th, 2025

Such a sad loss. Gerry was such a wonderful person. We grew up together, because Gerry Eisenberg’s dad and my dad were doctor pals. Gerry and I shared many summer vacations in Wisconsin and innumerable Memorial Day and Fourth of July picnics at each other’s houses, but my key appreciation for Gerry grew deepest when he was an adult – becoming the doctor, his dad, my “Uncle Herman” was, and the patriarch of a large and loving family. (When I first met Irene, I knew immediately that this was a match, as she had all of the warmth and family feeling of an Eisenberg). Gerry kept contact with my folks through the years. It was of course the empathetic Gerry who arranged for one of my dad’s last visits when he brought his dad to see my bedridden father in his last year, which meant, as Gerry realized, the world to my dad. And after my dad died, Gerry didn’t disappear. He regularly checked in with my mom. Gerry was a person to admire and a model for everyone to emulate.
Shari Seidman Diamond
Chicago, IL

~Shari Seidman Diamond
~friend, Chicago, IL

November 13th, 2025

I’d be remiss if I didn’t pay tribute to one of the most caring, kind and dedicated person and Dr. Coincidentally my husband and Jeri were childhood friends from the Austin neighborhood and when I saw Jerri for the first time, he recognized my husband and they reminisced every time we went in for an appointment. To say, I was shocked when I heard about his passing is an understatement. The world lost a great man and dedicated human being.. I was so fortunate to have him following my care and for going above and beyond in his care.. such a great loss to so many.. extending our most sincere condolences to his entire family and friends. May‘s memory always be for a blessing.

~Ina and Michael Schneiderman
~Michael and Jerry were childhood friends and I was one of his first patients in the mid 70s, Riverwoods, Illinois

November 13th, 2025

In memory of a Life so beautifully lived…. a heart so deeply loved.

May the memory of Dr. Gerald Eisenberg be a blessing.

~Josefina Constantino
~IBJI employee, Des Plaines, IL

November 13th, 2025

I met Gerry when Sarah became engaged to our son, Jason.who had told us what a mensch Gerry was.

When we met him, I knew that he was an extraordinary person. We had much in common-including fondness of classical music (I loved the photo of Stravinsky at the piano hanging on their dining room wall) as well as the White S.ox

Instantly, he became a kindred spirit.

Also we would trade stories about our lives as doctors. His experiences with patients enriched my own. He was the model of a virtuous physician–treating all his patients both attentively and kindly. It was routine for him to go out of his way to assure they got the best

I sometimes mistakenly call him my brother-in-law–it is a loving mistake–in fact I wish, still now, that he was my kinsman. I also had found a person whose family values, in these disjointed times, were extraordinary, the dedication of Irene and Gerry to enjoy their family,–Not just on holidays, but daily and at a weekly Shabbat dinner. (Jason calls Irene a “saint” for all her generosity toward everyone.)

I’ll miss him as a brother.

~Glenn and Michele Miller
~Machatunim, BETHESDA, MD

November 13th, 2025

Gerry and I were best friends growing up in Austin, on the west side of Chicago. Later on, turns out, he became the trusted physician for both of my parents. Gerry was such a fine fellow and so much fun to be around. I don’t make it back to Chicago very often these days but will truly miss not being able to see Gerry in person, and enjoy the quality of friendship (mostly long-distance) we’ve shared over the years.

Sandy Baran
Boulder, Colorado

~Sanford Baran
~Friend, Boulder, Colorado

November 13th, 2025

Gerry led by example. His wisdom leaves a mark on the way to lead an honorable life. His children and grandchildren saw what bringing the family together for Shabbat and other holidays means. By accepting all family invitations to be together, he indicated that family came first. He and his loving wife, Irene, still prepare meals at a time in their lives when many pass it on to the younger generation. All were invited to be at their table and share the camaraderie of the many cousins, friends, very extended family members. My son and grandchildren have had their lives enriched by just being in his company. I know Glenn and I did !

~Michele and Glenn Miller
~extended family, Bethesda

November 13th, 2025

Please accept my sincere condolences; I was dumbfounded when I heard of Gerry’s death as i had talked to him on Monday. Gerry was an esteemed colleague and a true mensch. He was like his mom and dad kind, courteous, and gracious. He will be missed and may his memory be a blessing.

~Jacob Bitran MD
~Colleague & Friend, Highland Park , IL 60035

November 13th, 2025

Little did I know that the Chicagoan who roomed next door at Oberlin College in the Fall of 1968 would come to mean so much to me. He was a street-smart Jewish kid from the Big City; I was a small-town central Ohio naif. But we bonded in mutual befuddlement about calculus and proceeded from there. Though later separated by hundreds of miles, we shared so much through the years: an early ’70s odyssey through the West, a tour of Louis Sullivan’s Midwestern banks, Wagner’s “Ring” in Seattle, and continuing visits and exchanges on a universe of subjects. Gerry never stopped wanting to know. And his sense of humor: He once sent me a card from Israel with one line, “Roger, you may not believe this, but there are sites here older than Lazar’s kosher franks!” The world needs more men like Gerald Eisenberg.

My deepest condolences to Irene, Mara, Sarah, and Harris. And to that bevy of grandchildren who should have had the benefit of his grace and wisdom for many more years.

~Roger McDonald
~Friend, Brooklyn, New York

November 13th, 2025

I an thankful that Gerry was my mother and other family members physician ; to his family and friends-may your loving memories help you through this difficult time

~Caryn Chemers
~Family of former patient, Wheeling IL

November 13th, 2025

Cousin Gerry, along with his sister Miriam, were my favorite relatives in my life. Our visits were few and far between but we kept up a correspondence on a regular basis once we were adults. I first met Gerry when I was 5 or 6 and my family came out from Denver to visit his family. Even at that young age, he was a giver and a carer. I knew nobody on the visit until Gerry took me under his wing. My biggest memory of that trip was sitting next to him on a sofa and watching “Zorro” on TV, an appliance that had not yet come to our house. Over the years there were bike rides through Chicago, intense games of handball and wonderful celebrations of the High Holy Days in his parents basement which was filled with people (most of them relatives) there to break the fast. After his parents were gone, Gerry and Irene took over that function for the family. Gerry, I am going to miss you terribly and I know that I am not alone in that feeling.. My condolences to Irene and the kids, Miriam and the rest of the family.

~Josh Kaplan
~Cousin, Minneapolis

November 13th, 2025

My husband, Alvin Lubov, was Jerry’s guidance counselor at Von Steuben High School. Jerry was one of my husband’s most remembered and favorite students. I believe that he was on the Student Council, for which my husband was the sponsor. He would often remember
those days with great fondness and a chuckle. From that beginning, our families have gone forward into 3 generations of friendship. May the bond that Alvin and Jerry enjoyed continue from strength to strength in friendship and laughter.
Sincerely, Rudy Joan Lubov, November 12, 2025

~Rudy Joan Lubov
~Friend, Chicago

November 12th, 2025

From his earliest days Gerry was a loving, caring person who was the definition of a mensch. My family will miss his empathy and his wonderful sense of humor. His love for his family and his friends was deeply felt. He was a wonderful physician who would go out of his way to deliver medications to patients who couldn’t make it to the office. His memory will truly be a blessing. We all loved
him so much.

~Roberta Zimmerman
~Cousy, Lincolnwood IL