Robert Bierman, longtime Princeton pediatrician and Rutgers health leader, dies at 94

Dr. Robert Howard Bierman, born on April 26, 1931, in Newark, New Jersey, died on Feb. 25 at Penn Princeton Medical Center. The cause of death was congestive heart failure. He was a resident of Princeton for close to 65 years.

Dr. Bierman, or Bob as he was known to his friends, grew up in Summit, New Jersey, and attended Amherst College, earning his undergraduate degree in 1953. He then earned his Doctor of Medicine from Cornell University School of Medicine in 1957 and completed his medical internship at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital from 1960 to 1961.

He then served two years as a physician in the U.S. Air Force at Warner Robins (Ga.) Air Force Base from 1960 to 1962.

In 1962, Dr. Bierman began a 15-year career in Princeton as a partner of The Pediatric Group, now owned by Advocare. He developed a large and loyal following of patients and families throughout the area. He served as the Pediatric Department chairman at Princeton Medical Center four times from 1967 to 1976.

Dr. Bierman retired from active office practice in 1977 to assume the position of chief of undergraduate health services at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where, over a 21-year tenure, he led a team of physicians, registered nurses, technicians, and social workers providing medical care to some 15,000 students.

He also taught in the Department of Pediatrics at the Rutgers Health Robert Wood Johnson Medical School for 15 years, co-authoring numerous publications and receiving hundreds of citations for his research. Working alongside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he was at the forefront of developing a vaccine for the human papillomavirus.

Dr. Bierman was an ongoing volunteer member of the school’s Institutional Review Board, responsible for protecting the rights, safety, and welfare of human research participants.

In addition, Dr. Bierman served one term on the Princeton Regional School Board of Education between 1969 and 1972 as president of the board.

Bob was predeceased by his loving wife of more than 60 years, Toba Barbara Dincin Bierman, in 2022. He is survived by his three sons: Bradford Dincin of Charlotte, North Carolina; Todd Andrew of Jersey City, New Jersey; Adam Gregory, and his wife, Sandra Jordan; and the pride of his life, his most cherished granddaughter, Rachel Rebecca, of Princeton, New Jersey.

Bob spent part of each year at his beloved summer home in Kennebunk, Maine, and his residence in Paris. His interests ranged from traveling around the world to home and yard projects and enjoying movies of multiple genres.

Dr. Bierman will always be remembered as both a gentle and caring doctor in his interactions with the patients he treated and a true gentleman and family man in how he conducted himself with his family members, close friends, and the public.

Those wishing to honor his memory are encouraged to make a donation to Penn Medicine, Princeton Medical Center Pediatric Department or PBS.