1950 – 2020
Family doctor, musician and photographer
My friend Paul Schatzberger, who has died aged 70 of kidney cancer, was a visionary GP, a brilliant musician and fine photographer whose work was exhibited in galleries from Sheffield to Havana.
He started his medical career as a family doctor in North London and moved to Sheffield in 1983 to join a growing band of radical doctors intent on transforming primary care. He was active in the Sheffield branch of the Medical Practitioners Union (MPU) during the 1980s and 1990s and went on to train in public health and became the Chair of Sheffield North Primary Care Group which later became the Trust. He returned to general practice in North East Sheffield and was a wonderful example of the sort of doctor we argue for in our paper ‘Public Health and Primary Care’
Born in Manchester, Paul was the son of Marc Schatzberger, an electrical engineer, and his wife, Rosl (nee Fried), a social worker. Both had been child refugees from wartime Austria. Paul’s grandparents died in Auschwitz.
He attended Manchester grammar school and studied medicine at University College London, graduating in 1973. He played violin and led the UCL orchestra, meeting his life-long partner Angie who led the cellos.
He was a talented musician, playing music from orchestral to jazz, folk and klesmer on violin and accordion. He was also a fine photographer with wonderful images of Cuba and a series of evocative photographs of family doctors at work. One of his photographs was used in an MPU campaigning leaflet in the 1990s. (see below)
He was a loyal and trusted friend and comrade and will be sorely missed by his family and friends.
Jack Czauderna
Retired Family Doctor, Sheffield
Doctors in Unite 