Dr. Arthur Schwabe; UCLA’s Head of Gastroenterology

Dr. Arthur D. Schwabe, head of the UCLA Division of Gastroenterology for 21 years, who did important research in fat metabolism and Mediterranean fever, has died. He was 77.

Schwabe, who retired from his administrative position in 1978 but remained a medical consultant until his death, died June 22 at his Encino home.

“Dr. Schwabe uniquely touched the lives of thousands of patients, students and staff,” said Dr. Gerald S. Levey, provost and dean of the UCLA School of Medicine, “across a career that dates back more than four decades to the early years of UCLA Medical Center. His distinguished legacy of clinical and educational excellence will continue to inspire for many years to come.”

Born in Varel, Germany, Schwabe immigrated to the United States with his family in his early teens. He became a naturalized citizen in 1943 and served with the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1946. During his 12 years as a captain in the Army Reserve, Schwabe studied at UC Berkeley, earned his medical degree at the University of Chicago and completed his internship and residency at UCLA Medical Center.

While beginning his teaching and research career at UCLA, Schwabe served as chief of gastroenterology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance from 1962 to 1967.

He worked extensively with Wadsworth Veterans Hospital in Westwood and was still a consultant to Harbor-UCLA and the VA hospitals when he died.

In the early 1960s, Schwabe worked with Dr. Leslie R. Bennett and Dr. Sherman M. Mellinkoff to develop a way of testing exhaled breath in order to diagnose problems with digestion or intestinal absorption of fats. A decade later, Schwabe studied links between improper fat metabolism and anorexia nervosa.

He was also an authority on Mediterranean fever, a painful inherited rheumatic disease that is prevalent in people descended from Arabs, Turks and other Mediterranean groups.

Schwabe’s teaching talents earned him Golden Apple awards from the senior classes of 1967 and 1970 as well as the Sherman M. Mellinkoff Faculty Award, named for his UCLA School of Medicine mentor, in 1983.

Highly respected in national and local professional societies, Schwabe served as president of the Southern California Society of Gastroenterology in 1969 and chairman of the Western Gut Club the same year.

Schwabe is survived by his wife, Erika.