Emily Ariel Bamberger passed away March 6, 2017, at her home in Kansas City. She recently completed her first two years of medical school in the MD/PhD program at the University of Missouri and is a 2013 graduate of University of Chicago, with an A.B. in biology and minor in classics.
In her much too short of time with us, Emily left her legacy. Teachers and professors who worked with Emily admired her diligence, quick wit and insight. She worked on neurobiology research and volunteered at La Rabida Children’s Hospital. After college, she worked for the American Red Cross as part of AmeriCorps in Chicago where her colleagues and clients appreciated her service and hard work. Those of us who had the joy of knowing Emily well remember her fun grins, remarkable memory and inquisitive conversations. In addition to her academic life, which she enjoyed immensely, Emily also was an avid reader, committed camp counselor, engaged world traveler and passionate fan of movies and current political events.
The sudden realization that Emily is no longer among us deeply saddens her family and friends. We will long remember her many gifts. Perhaps most remarkable was her exceptional intelligence. In her student days at Pembroke Day School, she won many awards, year after year, in science and history, and graduated as class valedictorian in 2009. She enjoyed shopping and getting her nails done as well as fine dining and culinary arts. She loved her summers at Herzl Camp. She had a talent for writing and relaying good stories. She was devoted to her parents, sister and grandparents whom she especially loved and appreciated. Even the family pups, first Bindi and now Ruby, enjoyed her kindness.
Emily courageously struggled with serious health problems, asthma and depression, throughout her short life. We seek comfort thinking of her now at peace and beyond the deep pain she suffered. Emily was born in Kansas City on July 18, 1990. She was a member of Congregation Kol Ami and previously of Congregation Beth Shalom and The New Reform Temple. She leaves behind her parents Dr. David and Elizabeth Bamberger, her sister Elissa, grandfathers Nathaniel Pirchesky and Albert Bamberger, great uncle Herbert Caplan, aunts and uncles Marcie and OJ Schneider and Joyce Bamberger and Dan Hensley, her cousins Max Hensley and Ashley Rousson, Rosa Hensley and Dr. Sheridan Morgan, Jamie and Hazel Robinson, other family members and friends. She was greatly loved by grandmothers who preceded her in death, Belle Pirchesky and Ida Bamberger.
Funeral services were set to take place Wednesday, March 8, 2017, in the Yukon Chapel at Mount Carmel Cemetery with burial to follow. The family requests that instead of flowers donations be made in her memory to National Jewish Health, P.O. Box 17169, Denver, CO 80217-0169 or (checks payable to) the University of Chicago Medicine, and mailed to University of Chicago, Gift Administration and Business Data, Emily Bamberger Memorial, 5235 S. Harper Court, 4th Floor, Chicago, IL 60615 or givetomedicine.uchicago.edu.
Online condolences may be left for the family at www.louismemorialchapel.com.
Arrangements by The Louis Memorial Chapel, 816-361-5211.