Robert Yarrish, infectious-disease doctor

Robert L. Yarrish, 64, an infectious-disease specialist and Navy reservist from Cherry Hill who served in Kuwait and Afghanistan, died Sunday, Nov. 18, shortly after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. He lived in Hartsdale, N.Y.

Dr. Yarrish received his degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1974 after graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1970.

He was the adopted son of the late Rabbi Herbert M. Yarrish, head of Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill between 1956 and 1975, and a member of the Cherry Hill High School Class of 1966. His birth father, Dr. Arthur Hoffman, died when Dr. Yarrish was a young boy.

In the early 1980s - following residencies at Philadelphia General Hospital and Pennsylvania Hospital, and a period as a research physician at the Institute for Cancer Research at Fox Chase - Dr. Yarrish became an attending physician at Westchester County Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y.

There he met Lynda Mack, a nurse, who became his wife. They shared 26 adventure-filled years, she said, beginning with a yearlong honeymoon in Changhua, Taiwan, where Dr. Yarrish set up the infection control department at Changhua Christian Hospital.

He later worked at St. Vincent's Hospital and Beth Israel Medical Center, both in New York. From 2001 until his death, he was an attending physician and director of infection control at Sound Shore Medical Center in New Rochelle, N.Y.

In 1998, at age 50, Dr. Yarrish followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and birth father and became a military doctor, joining the Navy Reserve as a lieutenant commander. He was deployed to Kuwait in 2004, and last year to Kandahar airfield in Afghanistan. He held the rank of captain at the time of his death.

"He was brilliant and educated, but never boastful or arrogant about it," his wife said. "The only importance to him of his degrees and his training was in being able to do good, to use them to help and teach others. He respected the gifts that everyone he met had to offer and, as a result, formed many long-lasting friendships."

He was an avid traveler and a natural athlete, according to his wife. He played on a Jewish basketball team in Israel while in high school, and excelled at bowling and racquetball. He was a featherweight boxer at Harvard.

He was also the family mechanic, an assembler of all electronics, and a lover of animals. The couple, both vegetarians, rescued primarily older animals from a local shelter, even cats to which Dr. Yarrish was allergic.

In addition to his wife, Dr. Yarrish is survived by his mother, Ruth, and three sisters.

Dr. Yarrish will be cremated and have his ashes taken aboard a Navy ship and scattered at sea. Donations may be made to the Jewish War Veterans, 1811 R St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009.