Joseph K. Indenbaum, February 12, 1926 - August 5, 2025
Born February 12, 1926, the only child of Samuel J. and Rose Leah (Kantor) Indenbaum. He grew up in the Bronx, in view of the old Yankee Stadium. At 16 he began college at City College of New York and served in the US Army in Europe toward the end of World War II.
Joseph married Theresa Tyor in 1948. Together they raised two children. They moved to Los Angeles in 1952, just in time for the Kern County earthquake. 7.3 on the Richter scale, it was felt all over Southern California. Joe said to Terry, “If that’s not in the newspaper tomorrow, we are going back to New York.” Their marriage dissolved in 1966, but Joe and Terry remained good friends until her death in 2014.
In 1983, after a 17-year courtship, he married the love of his life, Mary Ryan who survives.
“Dr. Joe” received his MD from Cornell Medical College in 1952 and a Master’s in Public Health from UCLA in 1962. He practiced as a pediatrician until 1962, when he became Medical Director of Olive View Hospital in Sylmar, at the north end of the San Fernando Valley. He oversaw the construction of their new hospital building which was destroyed 6 weeks after its dedication by the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, 6.6 on the Richter scale and centered almost underneath the hospital building. In 1978, he became the Medical Director of LA County’s Health Services in 1978, serving until his retirement in 1988.
During his long career with Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, he served as the medical director of various facilities and programs, including the Emergency Medical Services, as a medical consultant to the LA County Department of Adoptions, and as Associate Clinical Professor in Pediatrics at USC and UCLA Medical Schools.
He founded the Emergency Medical Director’s Association of California in 1985, serving as the first president of the organization. He was appointed to the California Medical Association Task Force on Disaster Planning and the Task Force on Sexual Assault Victims, and he served on a Medical Ethics committee. From the 1950s until 2020 he was a regular volunteer at a weekly Friday clinic for children run by the LA County Health Services. Originally a tuberculosis clinic, it became a clinic for children with physical challenges, and later for general pediatrics. In 1977 he headed the Citizens Committee on Life Support Policies, formulating a "rational and humane" policy for making end-of-life decisions.
At one of his final appearances as Medical Director of Los Angeles County Health Services, he shared his belief that public medical services are the keystone to our health system and that when they are not operating at full capacity or efficiency, the well-being of our entire healthcare system is at risk. He was unwavering in his commitment to the public health services’ mission to provide a wide range of care to individuals throughout the community. The Health Sciences Library at the UCLA School of Public Health now bears the plaque, "The Joseph K. Indenbaum Health Sciences Library."
In the 1960s and 70s he owned a half-share in a sailboat with his cousin, Joe Lipow. Sailing was a favorite weekend activity, with a few round trips to Catalina Island. During his retirement and before, Joe enjoyed spending time at a cabin in Three Rivers, California, the gateway to the Sierras. He and Mary took vacations in their VW Camper, traveling around the Mountain West and visiting her family in Wyoming.
When he was almost five years old, his parents bought a new Model M 1930 Steinway Grand piano that he learned to play on. That same piano moved with him from New York to Los Angeles and eventually to in his living room in San Dimas, along with 94 years of memories of the Chopin Etudes and other pieces he loved to play
Dr. Joe is survived by his wife of 42 years, Mary Ryan Indenbaum; his son, Richard G. Indenbaum, his daughter, Laurie R. Indenbaum and her partner, Andrew Toepfer and two grandchildren, Samuel L. Indenbaum and Rosa A. Indenbaum, several cousins, Mary’s nephews and nieces: Robert (Karen) Johnston, Richard (Brenda) Johnston, Mary Lou Johnston, Judy (Kevin) Hoffman, and Jeffrey Johnston, grand-nieces and -nephews, and many friends and admirers.
Memorial gifts to the ACLU, the Keck School of Medicine at USC, Habitat for Humanity, World Wildlife Fund, and YWCA Meals are welcome.