WA - Edward Benson, MD: Physicist, Physician, Family Man

Distinguished Seattle physician and endocrinologist Edward Benson, a physicist who worked on the Apollo 11 Mission before switching careers during the Cold War to pursue a life of service through medicine, has died at age 80 after gracefully navigating many years living with Alzheimer's Disease.

Benson, who retired as Chief of Endocrinology for Seattle's Group Health Cooperative in 2012, treated thousands of patients during a 35-year medical career in Seattle, where he settled permanently in 1982 and raised two daughters with his late wife, Patrice. He was a devoted father who spent his weekends supporting his girls' interests in sports, performances, and outdoor activities.

Born in 1945 in Kansas City, Benson was a high school track star and standout student who attended the University of Kansas before obtaining advanced degrees in physics and applied mathematics at Stanford and Columbia universities.

Highly recruited as a graduate student, Benson accepted a job on the Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, where he worked for the NASA contractor and aerospace giant from 1967-1971 during the height of the Space Race and contributing to the Apollo 11 Mission that landed on the moon in 1969. Despite a promising career trajectory in physics, he left Bell Laboratories to pursue medicine after growing dissatisfied with work in the military industrial complex. The tipping point came when he was tasked with finding solutions to keep radar operable following a nuclear blast.

After two years at Rutgers Medical School, Benson moved to Seattle in 1973 to attend the University of Washington School of Medicine, graduating at the top of his class and becoming a practicing M.D. as the Chief Medical Resident for Virginia Mason Hospital.

From 1977-79, Benson served as a Fellow in Endocrinology at Virginia Mason Clinic. It was during this time that he fell in love with and married Patrice Gales, his wife of 35 years.

Adventurous of heart and eager to explore the world, Ed and Patrice moved in 1979 to American Samoa, where Benson was Chief of Medicine at the LBJ Tropical Medical Center for a year. Their three years overseas also included New Zealand, where Benson served as a Research Fellow in Endocrinology at the University of Auckland and Hong Kong, where Benson served as a distinguished Lecturer in Endocrinology at the University of Hong Kong. They returned to Seattle in 1982 and started a family.

In 2003, Benson was named one of the "Best Doctors in America" and over the years was repeatedly honored by his medical peers, as a "Top Doctor in Seattle" as listed in Seattle Magazine.

Benson had a passion for life-long learning, obtaining his pilots' license as a young man, teaching himself to play guitar and banjo, and designing and building furniture. He was a skilled woodworker, carpenter, craftsman and blacksmith whose handcrafted furniture, wrought iron gates and railings adorned their home and garden in Seattle's Mount Baker neighborhood. A music lover, Benson was also a skilled guitarist and banjo picker who enjoyed playing bluegrass tunes for himself and his family.

"Ed touched the lives of thousands of Seattle families during his long medical career here in the city he loved," says Paul Fredlund, a dear friend and colleague of Benson's at Virginia Mason and Group Health for several decades. "He was a great dad, a wonderful husband, a true friend and a real Renaissance man with so many skills: medicine, music, carpentry, and metalwork."

Benson retired in 2012 when Patrice was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died five weeks later at the too-young young age of 59.

In his last decade, Benson found love and companionship with his partner Sarah Meyer, who reinvigorated his desire to travel and live life to the fullest.

Benson died in Seattle on July 28, 2025, with his brother, Bob, and his daughters Katie Benson and Jill Benson Thomas at his bedside, following several days of extended visits from friends and relatives to say their goodbyes.

In lieu of gifts or flowers, remembrances may be made to Seattle's Pratt Fine Arts Center (https://pratt.org/donate) to support scholarships for young students. Ed studied at Pratt, where he mentored younger students and helped build the school's Sculpture Studio Gates, which still hang in the blacksmithing studio accompanied by a plaque commemorating Benson's contribution.

A celebration of life will be held in the New Year.