Memorial Service Announced For "Dr. Bob" Zufall, Co-Founder Of NJ Health Service

DENVILLE, NJ — Dr. Robert Zufall, who founded a health network serving underserved communities in Morris County and around New Jersey, has died at the age of 99.

"Dr. Bob" and his late wife Kathryn founded the Dover Free Clinic in 1990, which later became one of several community health centers bearing the Zufall name.

The Denville resident died on March 5 at Saint Clare's Hospital, Zufall Health announced on Tuesday. There will be a memorial service for Dr. Zufall on Sunday, April 21 at the County College of Morris.

A native of Middletown, New York, Dr. Zufall earned his doctor of medicine from Harvard Medical School in 1947 after attending Princeton University for pre-med. He spent time in the U.S. Army medical corps as a First Lieutenant and Captain before joining the urology department at Dover General Hospital.

He met Kathryn Schwindt, or Kay, while in medical school. Kay is credited for being key in the marketing of the children's toy Play-Doh, which started out as wallpaper cleaning compound — you can read more on that in Dr. Zufall's obituary.

Dr. Zufall and his wife raised their children in Mountain Lakes, and after he retired, he and Kay began medical volunteer work. After several trips to Peru, they decided they wanted to help people closer to home. Dr. Zufall studied primary care and Kay managed the administration so they could found the Dover Free Clinic in 1990.

What began as "a tiny and sparsely resourced one-room clinic" staffed by the Zufalls' retired physician friends has grown to serve more than 48,000 patients at 15 sites, spread across seven New Jersey counties. As well as primary care services, Zufall Health also includes dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, nutrition, and more services.

According to his obituary, Dr. Zufall is predeceased by Kay, who died in 2014 at the age of 87; and his siblings, Zufall and Martha Zufall Smith. He is survived by his sister Alice Fellenzer, daughters Kathryn, Margaret, Ellen, and Nancy, son David, nine grandchildren, and 11 great grandchildren.

Dr. Zufall's body has been donated to the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School for research per his wishes, the obituary said.

The memorial service will be held on Sunday, April 21 at 1:30 p.m. at County College of Morris (214 Center Grove Rd. Randolph, NJ 07869), in the Davidson Rooms in the Student Community Center. Parking is available in Parking Lot 6.

Donations in Zufall’s memory can be made to:

Zufall Health: Online at zufallhealthfoundation.org/donate; or by check payable to Zufall Health Foundation and mailed to Zufall Health Foundation at 18 West Blackwell Street Dover, NJ 07801.

The Gertrude Bunger Zufall Scholarship Fund, Barnard College: Online at bit.ly/GBZ-Barnard; or by check payable to Barnard College with “Gertrude Bunger Zufall Scholarship Fund” in the gift memo and mailed to Barnard College, Box AS, 3009 Broadway, New York, 10027.