By Town Crier Report
Dr. Edwin R. Delfs, longtime resident of Los Altos Hills who pursued careers as an obstetrician-gynecologist and vertebrate paleontologost, died July l5 at Stanford University Hospital of congestive heart failure. He was 68 years old.
Dr. Delfs was a true renaissance man and a great intellect. He was born in Lakewood, Ohio, in l934 and as a youth played piano and trumpet.
He became a “museum kid” at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where his love of all things to do with the earth and animals was nurtured. He used his summers at Lakewood High School to go on three-month treks into the Sierras with Three Corner Round. He eventually became a collector himself when he had the opportunity to collect large mineral specimens from the mines of Mexico. These are now housed in the museum.
While doing his undergraduate studies at Yale University, he spent summers working at the Cleveland museum. He led the discovery and excavation of a 72-foot-long, l5-foot-high, 25-ton dinosaur from the late Jurassic period, 150 million years ago. The dinosaur, a new species, was later named after Dr. Delfs - Haplocanthosaurus delfsi, “Happy,” as he is known at the museum. He also discovered a fossil crocodile, also named after him - Eutretauranosuchus delfsi. These discoveries were made in Garden Park, Colo., near Canon City. In 1991, Dr. Delfs was invited to dedicate the site of his work as the Cleveland Dinosaur Quarry and served on the committee to set up a Visitor Center in the Garden Park Fossil area. “Happy” remains one of the main attractions at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, although the museum’s largest attraction is probably “Lucy,” the 3.2 million-year-old “human ancestor.”
During his premed college years, Dr. Delfs particularly loved mountain climbing but also found time to study acting at the Yale Drama School. Upon graduation from Yale University and with his great paleontological discovery, he entered the doctoral program in geology at Columbia University in New York City. During those years he met and married his wife of 43 years, Annelle, who was studying music.
After two years of graduate study at Columbia, he realized his true love was medicine and entered Western Reserve University, School of Medicine, in Cleveland, Ohio. With his great love for the West Coast, he opened his office in Mountain View and practiced medicine for 30 years at El Camino Hospital, giving generously of his time in the care of his patients.
He loved travel and adventure, and after his first triple bypass surgery 30 years ago, he enjoyed a long trek through the Himalayas.
His appetite for life was insatiable. His curiosity never waned, his quest was to continue to learn and improve through his vast collection of books. He loved American Indian art and artifacts and traveled throughout the Southwest in search of items for his collections.
He also volunteered at the Cantor Museum at Stanford and taught English as a second language to adult Stanford students.
He is survived by his wife, Annelle; and three children, Kirsten, Diedre and Edwin, and their spouses, John, Bob and Leyla; and grandchildren, Alexandra and Robert.
Dr. Delfs had a private burial at Skylawn Memorial Park. A memorial service in his honor will take place 2 p.m., Sunday, at the Stanford Faculty Club.
Please send memorial donations to American Heart Association, Gift Processing Department, 1710 Gilberth Rd., Burlingame, CA. 94010, or Sempervirens Fund, Drawer BE, Los Altos 94023.
