Gentleness that transcended words
Dr. Stuart Yaffe practiced medicine for 60 years. He graduated from medical school in 1956 and retired from family practice at Springfield Clinic in 2016 at age 89. Patients were his priority; he did not have patience when others didn’t share his priority. “One keeps practicing whatever they’re practicing until they achieve the goal,” said Yaffe when asked why he was still practicing in his 80s. “So, you practice until you’re perfect. I’ve never reached that. That’s why I keep practicing.” Yaffe was a life member of the American Academy of Family Practice, joining in 1962. He was a longtime member of Temple B’rith Sholom.
Yaffe was born in Springfield July 6, 1927. He grew up mostly in Springfield but lived a few years in other Midwest cities. He graduated from Springfield High School in 1945 and then tried to join the Army but was too young. He enlisted when he turned 18 and served 18 months stateside. The Army gave him a taste of the world.
After the Army, he went to the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. Alaska was not yet a state. Yaffe loved math and science and expected to pursue engineering but a female professor who taught a mandatory biology class turned his interest to medicine. After graduating he went to St. Louis University Medical School.
Yaffe met Natalie Goldstein in St. Louis on a blind date. He described her as the “most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen in my life.” They were married 69 years; she died in March 2021.
After medical school they moved to Springfield, and he worked with the esteemed Dr. Rex Campbell. Yaffe was a general practitioner when there was no “call schedule” and doctors attended to patients whenever they needed care. He delivered hundreds of babies. Yaffe was dedicated to his patients. Natalie was the primary homemaker for son, Scott, and daughter, Kim. She also performed dance on stage and taught dance exercise. Her love of theater led to their many trips to New York City.
Yaffe was proud of their two children and four grandchildren. He believed in education and said “the best investment we could ever make is education of our children.” After daughter Kim Schoenburg finished her medical residency in 1990, she joined her father and they worked side-by-side as Springfield Clinic partners for a quarter century. A father/daughter pair working together is a rare experience. “Every man who has a child should be fortunate enough to have that happen,” said Yaffe.
Dr. Keith Wichterman is a highly respected retired surgeon. Wichterman’s father was a family physician and a contemporary of Yaffe. Wichterman first met Yaffe around age 10 accompanying his father making rounds at the hospital. Later, Keith Wichterman and Yaffe worked together for more than 30 years. They shared hundreds of patients. “Stu was one of those people when you met him you never forgot it because he had an empathy and gentleness that transcended actual words,” said Wichterman.
Much of Yaffe’s practice occurred before CT scans were available, making it difficult to diagnose abdominal pain. “Stu was a master at knowing his patients and reading accurately the severity of their symptoms,” said Wichterman. “Of the hundreds of his patients he asked me to see, they all seemed to have just what he suspected – it was uncanny. No other physician I ever knew seemed to have such diagnostic accuracy, and I have long attributed it to his caring about his profession, his dedication and his ability to read others.”
Yaffe was relentless in his fight to stop physicians from smoking. At a time when a majority of doctors smoked, Yaffe’s efforts led to no cigarettes being sold in the hospital. Yaffe was president of the Sangamon County Medical Society in 1989 when an agreement was reached to ban smoking in St. John’s and Memorial hospitals. At the time, he called smoking “the number one avoidable cause of death in our society.”
Running was a big part of Yaffe’s life. He started running around age 40. He could exercise on his own schedule and even run while waiting on a woman to deliver a baby, with his pager at hand. Randy Witter and Harvey M. Stephens, who is 35 years younger than Yaffe, were among a group of runners who ran six mornings a week with Yaffe in Washington Park for more than 30 years. They ran thousands of miles together, including many marathons. Yaffe completed 38 marathons. One year he logged 3,650 miles.
“Stuart had an intellectual curiosity that went way beyond medicine,” said Stephens. “There was no subject matter he didn’t want to explore.” The group was known for lively banter. Yaffe relished challenging his fellow runners on any opinion being expressed. “Runners were always my people,” Yaffe said in a 2014 interview. “Natalie always said the best people we’ve known have been runners.”
Stuart Yaffe was one of a kind. He is deeply missed by his family, friends and former patients. “Once you were his friend, you might as well be family,” said Stephens. Wichterman believes “the standards he practiced back then should be forever.”
Karen Ackerman Witter is a longtime friend of the Yaffe family. Dr. Stuart Yaffe was her primary care doctor. Her husband, Randy, ran with Stu for over 40 years.
This article appears in January 1-7, 2026.
