Nathan Schnall, retired head of obstetrics and gynecology at Rolling Hill Hospital, has died at 99

Nathan Schnall, 99, of Abington, longtime doctor, retired chairman of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Rolling Hill Hospital, and veteran, died Sunday, June 2, of heart failure at the Sunrise senior living community.

One of three brothers who became doctors, Dr. Schnall delivered thousands of babies and worked at Rolling Hill, which was in Elkins Park, and other hospitals from the early 1950s until his retirement in the mid-1990s. He was organized and serious about his work, and steered Rolling Hill, now defunct, through the innovative and sometimes turbulent 1980s and ‘90s.

He helped create and administer policy at Rolling Hill regarding abortion, in vitro fertilization, and other groundbreaking family planning initiatives. The Inquirer published a story in 1985 on the 12th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision to allow abortions in the first trimester of pregnancies, and Dr. Schnall said: ”You have to use your own conscience as best you can.”

He served in the Army stateside during World War II and again at an Air Force base in Japan during the Korean War. He personally cared for his wife, Dolly, and her daughter when they fell seriously ill, and earlier delivered all six of his wife’s grandchildren.

Dr. Schnall’s parents came from Europe just before he was born, and he often assisted Russian immigrants at no charge during the 1980s and ‘90s. He was generous with his time and attention, and his daughter Ilene said: “He cared about his job, and he cared a lot about people.”

In 2016, Philadelphia magazine featured his family of many doctors in a story called “The Great Philadelphia Families,” and Dr. Schnall said: “I can take such pleasure in being from a family where everyone is so caring.”

Nathan Schnall was born Nov. 20, 1924, in Philadelphia. One of seven children, he grew up on Second Street during the Great Depression, and gave the welcoming address at the 1941 graduation ceremony at Benjamin Franklin High School.

He enrolled at Temple University, went into the Army during World War II, and then graduated from what is now Temple’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine after his discharge. He especially valued his later tour in Japan in the 1950s, he told his family, because it exposed him to other cultures and new experiences.

He married Maxine Swarttz in 1957, and they had daughters Ilene and Rona. After a divorce, he married Dolly Beechman, whom he had dated years earlier, and welcomed her family into his. His wife and daughter Rona died earlier.

His wife was a popular actress and theater board member in Philadelphia, and together they supported the arts and created the Dolly Beechman Schnall Theater Endowment Fund at the Pennsylvania State University campus in Abington, and the Nathan Schnall Scholarship Fund at Temple’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine.

His first wife is an author, and he was the subject of her first book, My Husband, the Doctor.

Dr. Schnall and Dolly danced often and traveled together through Europe. They attended galas and fundraising events and were mentioned in the society pages of The Inquirer and other publications.

He was fluent in Hebrew, studied the Torah and Jewish history closely, and enjoyed preparing family members to become bar and bat mitzvahs. He lived in Elkins Park, Wyndmoor, and Abington, and was active at Congregation Adath Jeshurun.

His wife’s grandchildren said he made them feel “seen, capable, and strong” and was “devoted, admired, humble, and loved.” Julian Segal, his wife’s grandson, said: “There was no better feeling in the world than getting his stamp of approval.”

Dr. Schnall liked to play golf and cards, and attended nearly all of his daughter Ilene’s sports events in high school and college. “He was,” she said, “a paradigm of unconditional love.”

In addition to his daughter and former wife, Dr. Schnall is survived by his wife’s daughters, Jane Segal and Claudia Beechman Cohen, and other relatives. Five brothers and a sister died earlier.

Services were held June 4.

Donations in his name may be made to the Nathan Schnall Scholarship Fund at Temple’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine, 3500 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19140.