Mourners gather for slain doctor

An overflow crowd of mourners gathered in Costa Mesa on Wednesday to honor a slain Newport Beach doctor on what would have been his 53rd birthday.

Hundreds of friends, colleagues and family members, many wearing yarmulkes, gathered at Harbor Lawn-Mt. Olive Memorial Park & Mortuary to pay their respects to Ronald Gilbert, a respected urologist affiliated with Hoag Hospital for nearly 20 years.

Some of those who attended stood and prayed outside, unable to find a seat at the service at 1625 Gisler Ave. in Costa Mesa.

dressed in black clothing, they filed in from a line that stretched dozens of yards through the parking lot at the site of one of the county’s only consecrated Jewish cemeteries.

At the family’s request, mortuary staff asked that media not be present for the service. The Daily Pilot honored the request, as did broadcast media.

Gilbert was said to be deeply committed to his Jewish faith. He lived with his wife and two children in Huntington Harbour.

Stanwood Fred Elkus, 75, is accused of shooting Gilbert Monday in an examination room on Superior Avenue in Newport Beach. Elkus appeared Wednesday in Orange County Superior Court, where he asked for a public defender to represent him at his March 1 arraignment.

— Jeremiah Dobruck

Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck