Sibley W. Hoobler
Sibley W. Hoobler, professor emeritus of internal medicine, died Jan. 25 of a heart attack in Tucson, Ariz., while vacationing with his wife Catherine. He was 82.
Internationally recognized for his pioneering work in high blood pressure research and patient care, he retired from the U-M in 1976 and became professor of clinical medicine at Case Western Reserve University and adjunct staff physician at the Cleveland Clinic.
As a scientist and educator, Hoobler made major contributions that now affect the ways doctors worldwide treat patients with high blood pressure.
“Dr. Hoobler was a visionary who, 50 years ago, first saw the importance of hypertension, long before his peers and when many even questioned the benefit of any treatment at all,” said Stevo Julius, chief of the Division of Hypertension. “He founded America’s first hypertension clinic at the U-M. Today, hypertension is widely recognized as the number one cause of adult death in the United States. He was a true pioneer.”
One of the first physicians to discover chemical compounds for the treatment of high blood pressure, Hoobler remained active throughout his career in clinical pharmacology for anti-hypertensive agents. He served as a consultant to some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.
Hoobler authored a leading medical text, Hypertensive Disease, as well as 150 scientific papers. He was a member of national and international medical societies and served as chair of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research.
He also was an avid outdoorsman, with interests in fly fishing and tennis, and a contributor to many environmental organizations.
A lifelong advocate of the benefits of education, he sponsored scholarships at the U-M, Johns Hopkins University, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and at other institutions.
Hoobler was born in New York City and graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1933. He held an M.D. and Sc.D. from Johns Hopkins (1937) and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Following his internship at the U-M, Hoobler was a research fellow at Harvard Medical School and served as a captain with the Harvard Hospital unit in the U.S. Army in the Pacific.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, Raymond B. of New York City; a daughter, Patricia R. Schock of Lansing; and four grandchildren. Also surviving are stepsons Paul H. Jr. and Harvey G. Oppmann of Cleveland; T. Rodney Oppmann of Washington, D.C.; a stepdaughter, Gretchen O. Anderson of Chicago; and eight step-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held in June in Vanderbilt, Mich. Memorial contributions may be made to the Hypertension Fellowship Fund, 3918 Taubman Center, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0356, or the Headwaters Chapter, Trout Unlimited, 625 East Main St., Gaylord, MI 49735.
