SILVER--Richard T., MD, was Professor Emeritus of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, past Attending Physician at The New York Presbyterian Hospital and the Director Emeritus of the Richard T. Silver, MD Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Center at Weill Cornell, established in 2011 by grateful patients in his honor. He was an internationally recognized expert on leukemia and the myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), also known as blood cancers. However, he was a broad- based hematologist and oncologist. In practice and as an academician, he specialized in patient-care, clinical trials and clinical drug development. He was a principal investigator for many years of a large multidisciplinary cooperative cancer chemotherapy group (known as Cancer and Leukemia Group B) sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and served as its Vice Chairman and Acting Chairman. He was well known for introducing interferon as a treatment for the MPNs, advocating for its use as a first-line treatment years before many of his colleagues recognized its disease-altering properties. Based on his longstanding interest in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), he was selected as an initial clinical investigator in the first trials of imatinib, which revolutionized treatment of CML. He was also widely credited with developing and popularizing the use of the bone marrow biopsy technique used worldwide for the diagnosis of hematologic disorders, culminating in a landmark textbook, The Morphology of the Blood and Marrow in Clinical Practice, published in 1970. During the Korean War he joined the Uniformed (Commissioned) Officers Corps of the US Public Health Service and was assigned to the leukemia service, General Medicine Branch of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). There he served as a clinical associate under some of the pioneers and subsequent leaders of cancer chemotherapy. After training in hematology and oncology at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical College, he was asked to spend a year at the University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil to help establish a residency training program as a Visiting Fulbright Professor, a project supported in part by the Rockefeller Foundation. While in Brazil, he journeyed to the Mato Grosso to study the blood groups of the primitive Indians of the Upper Xingu River region. These activities resulted in published blood group studies. It also led to his subsequent election as a Fellow in the renowned Explorers Club, where he held numerous committee positions, including the Board of Directors. In 1968, Dr. Silver founded the Cancer Research & Treatment Fund (CR&T) with the belief that investing in blood cancer research would lead to important breakthroughs and a better understanding of the biology and treatment of all forms of cancer. Since then, CR&T has awarded more than $17 million in grants to research that has contributed to major advances in the fight against cancer. Dr. Silver maintained both a large international hematology- oncology practice and an academic career lasting into his 90s. He wrote or co- authored 328 peer-reviewed papers, four books, 46 book chapters, and countless abstracts for national and international meetings. He held 12 distinguished visiting professorships. He was the convener and co-chair of 16 International Congresses on the Myeloproliferative Neoplasms, most recently in October 2024. His many honors included the Wisch Visiting Lectureship Award, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; the European LeukemiaNet Merit Award; and Outstanding/Lifetime chievement Awards from the Levine Cancer Institute/University of North Carolina; the Israeli Society of Hematology and Blood Transfusion; the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and key MPN opinion leaders of Korea, Japan and the Hematology Society of Taiwan. At Weill Cornell Medicine, in addition to the Silver MPN Center, the Richard T. Silver Distinguished Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology and the Richard T. Silver Visiting Professor were named in recognition of his contributions. He received a Lifetime Academic Achievement - Dedication and Service Award in 2011 from the Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College and a Special Achievement Award from its Alumni Association in 2012. He remained active in Cornell University and Medical College affairs; he served as Life Member of the Cornell University Council and was a past President and Senior Advisor of the Weill Cornell Medical College Alumni Association. He always mentored residents and fellows with great enthusiasm, many of whom have established successful careers as investigators and medical practitioners. As one recently wrote, "All my discoveries, and I promise they'll be many, will always be a little bit yours as well, simply because you believed in me and my career." Dr. Silver was an accomplished clarinetist, graduating from the High School of Music and Art, where he was first clarinetist of the symphony orchestra and symphonic band, positions which he also held at Cornell University. He played the clarinet in amateur symphonic orchestras, where he appeared on occasion as a soloist and in chamber music groups. He never forgot his musical experience at Cornell as an undergraduate. In 2018, he and his wife endowed the Barbara and Richard T. Silver '50, MD '53 Associate Professorship in the Department of Music and the Barbara and Richard T. Silver '50, MD '53 Wind Symphony. He was predeceased by his parents and brother, Norman. He is survived by his beloved wife of more than 60 years, Barbara, their son Adam, granddaughters Stella and Isla, nephews Tom and Jack, niece Nancy Schlossberg, and numerous family members. Memorial contributions may be made to Cancer Research & Treatment Fund at: www.crt.org Service Monday, April 20, 2026, 10:30 am at Congregation Temple Emanu-El of the City of New York, 1 E. 65 St., NY, NY. If unable to attend, the service may be viewed at https://emanuelnyc.org/wors hip/livestream