Robert Andrew Berselli M.D.

Robert (Bob) was born on Staten Island, N.Y., on Aug. 8, 1939 and passed away on March 3, 2025 at St. Charles Hospital in Bend, Ore. Bob attended Columbia University as an undergraduate majoring in Chemistry and graduated from Georgetown Medical School in 1964. He finished his internship at the University of Pennsylvania in 1965. Bob's schooling was interrupted when he was drafted during the Vietnam War and served as a Captain in the Medical Corps of the 101st Airborne, where he learned to parachute. He spent the remainder of his service at Fort Campbell, Ky.

After serving, Bob become a Resident at Harvard Surgical Service at Boston City Hospital from 1967 through 1968. He then continued his residency in orthopedic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971. On completion of his orthopedic residency, he moved to Oregon where he was in private practice as an orthopedic surgeon from 1971-2004 at Providence and Emanuel Hospitals. He truly loved his practice and his patients.

In the last year of medical school he met Shirley Tengberg, proposed to her on Feb. 14, 1965, and they married on June 12, 1965. The Berselli family grew to six children, including four sons and two daughters. Bob and Shirley were married until her death in 2009.

On his 76th birthday he proposed to Suzanne Storms Millis, and they were married on Dec. 27, 2015. He often remarked how lucky he was to have married two accomplished and strong women.

Bob's passion was reading and collecting books as he loved history and science. He traveled widely, loved movies, classical music, and being a family man. He played golf. He was an active member of Waverley Country Club, the Arlington Club, and the Multnomah Athletic Club, as well as various memberships in his profession.

Bob was predeceased by his wife, Shirley; and his parents, Mildred and Frank Berselli. He is survived by his wife, Suzanne; his two sisters, Diana Pietrangelo (Charles) and Nina Pecher (Philip); and his six children, Marshall Brooke Berselli (Shiela), Jonathan Blake Berselli (Kim), Christopher Blair Berselli, Elizabeth Anne Metcalf (Leroy), Andrea Blythe Berselli, and Robert Brent Berselli (Kaley). Included in his family are stepchildren, Erin van der Velde (Chris), Duncan McRoberts (Loan), Meredith Oksenholt, and Robert Millis (Sherry).

Bob was a wonderful husband and father, but the grandchildren were the apples of his eye. He loved watching them grow and visited them often. They included Benton Andrew Berselli, Caroline Mary Berselli, Grace Louise Berselli, Ella Anne Berselli; step-grandchildren, Alexis van der Velde, Dirk van der Velde, McCallum van der Velde, Erling Jon Oksenholt, Kathryn Millis, and Henry Millis; and great-grandchildren, Christiaan, Beo and Elodie van der Velde.

A funeral mass will be celebrated in his honor at St. Clare Catholic Church in Portland on Friday, April 11, 2025 at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully recommends a gift to OHSU Knight Cancer Institute or Friends of the Multnomah County Library.

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