Dr. Robert Engle Zadek
Dr. Robert Engle Zadek, of Baltimore, MD, passed away on Thursday, July 2, 2026, at the age of 97, in Lewes, DE. He had just spent the week with his family at his favorite place, Rehoboth Beach, DE.
Born in Mount Vernon, NY, on November 10, 1928, he was the son of Kate (Engle) and Isadore Zadek. His stepmother, Janet Selig Zadek, helped raise him after his mother died. He grew up with his brother, David, and his stepbrothers, Bob and Jimmy Wolf, in Mount Vernon, and then moved to Baltimore to attend Johns Hopkins University and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. After two years in the U.S. Navy, in Norfolk, VA, he moved back to Baltimore to train in orthopaedics at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where his father, Isadore Zadek, had also trained in orthopaedics. They became the first father-son orthopaedic surgeon pair in the hospital’s history.
Bob joined a private practice in Baltimore. He was Chief of Orthopaedics at Sinai Hospital (1968-1990), where he started and ran a resident education program, and served as Chief of the Scoliosis Service at Kernan Hospital. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He was the author of several studies on Paget’s disease and a book chapter “Orthopedic Management of the Child with Multiple Handicaps.” In 2014, his family established the Zadek Family Professorship in Orthopaedic Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
In 1999, when Bob retired from medical practice, he became a volunteer tutor with Baltimore Reads, which he continued until its closing.
Throughout his life, he had many hobbies. He was a boatbuilder, fisherman, ceramist, puzzler, reader, bread baker, gardener, and dog lover. He and his wife, Miriam, quietly supported many organizations in Baltimore and Rehoboth Beach, DE.
Bob was the original girl dad to his four daughters. He raised strong women, whom he taught to fish, to use tools, to love the beach. Most important, he taught his girls to be honest and true to themselves and to take care of others, values he lived and modeled for his daughters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Every year, on the Fourth of July, he read the Declaration of Independence.
Bob is survived by his beloved wife of 74 years, Miriam Zadek (née Scharfman); devoted children, Sarah (Jim) Umberger, Susan (Steve) Mandel, Beth Zadek (Joph Steckel), and Barbara Zadek (Tom Moses); his adored grandchildren, Sam Heron (Amy Klet), Charlie Umberger (Audrey Kim), Katie (Chris) Bruce, Ben (Halley) Mandel, Tom (Johna) Mandel, Henry (Elke) Steckel, Isabel, George, and Lily Steckel, Molly Moses (Jen Wenz), and Matthew (Rachel) Moses; 15 great-grandchildren; and his labradoodle, Oliver.
Contributions in Bob’s memory may be sent to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Class of 1954 Scholarship Fund.
