Sheldon Golub

Sheldon Golub of Sedona, Arizona passed away on February 11, 2025. He was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y. on June 1, 1937, the only child of Louis & Rose (Berkowitz) Golub. A graduate of Stuyvesant High School (1955), Columbia College (1959), and Downstate Medical School (1964). He served as Captain in the USAF (Medical Service) 1964-1966. He first arrived at Bien Hoa Air Force Base outside of Saigon during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, and completed 150+ helicopter rescues of downed pilots, earning him an Air Medal & USAF Commendation. He also received a Bronze Star for directing the medical response during the May 16, 1965, Bien Hoa disaster. In additional to treating soldiers on base, he practiced general medicine treating local Vietnamese civilians. He spent his last year of active service as a General Medical Officer at Tachikawa Air Force Base outside of Tokyo, Japan.

Upon his return to the states, he completed residencies at Harvard’s Mass Mental Health Program in Boston, MA and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. In 1971 he joined the North Shore Child and Family Guidance Clinic as a Child Psychiatrist and became Medical Director in 1979. His greatest joy was in getting down on the floor with young patients and there was no child that he could not talk to and win over. He opened a private psychiatry practice in Great Neck, N.Y in 1971. 

He met his future wife Bonnie in 1974, and they married in 1978. He read the New York Times every day from the age of 12 until a few days before his passing in his office holding his duck collection and his horse riding trophies. He was an avid skier, having skied all over the world, but most enjoyed skiing with his three children in Vermont. He retired to Sedona Arizona in 2008. 

Sheldon is survived by his wife of 47 years – Prof. Bonnie Gustav (Golub). His children and spouses, Drs. Justin Golub & Kelly Hallstrom of Troy, NY, Nathaniel & Joanna (Sayago) Golub of Nazareth, PA, and B. Rachel Smith & Brent Smith of Zionsville, PA; his three beloved grandchildren: Owen, Nora and Reed; his brother-in-law Spence Gustav (and partner Victoria Garrard), He will be remembered by some very special caregivers over the nineteen years of his illness: Maria Serrano Oliva, Margarita Garcia Ruiz and Katrina Esparza, as well as the extraordinary staff of AZ Life Hospice who helped to care for him over the last few weeks of his life. His family’s gratitude to these people will never be forgotten. 

A private family service and military interment will take place at Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Newtown, PA. In lieu of any flowers or gifts a donation to AZ Life Hospice, Prescott, Arizona or North Shore Child and Family Guidance Association, Roslyn, New York would be appreciated.