David Dan Ulmer

David D. Ulmer passed away after a brief illness at the age of 96 on March 25, 2026, in Stuart, Florida.

He was born in McCall, Idaho, during the depression to working-class parents (Leslie and Nellie (Peg) Ulmer).

David showed a penchant for being resourceful, hard-working, and athletic. As a boy, he dug worms for the fisherman, delivered groceries for the general store, and worked part-time in the lumber mill for his foreman father. However, his strongest trait may have been his aptitude.

David attended the University of Idaho before going on to Washington University in St. Louis, where he received his medical degree. While in medical school, he met his future wife, Nancy Schwerdtfeger, and they were married 2 days after David’s graduation in 1954.

After graduation, David took an internship and residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA. followed by two years of military service at the Army Medical Research Laboratory in Ft Knox, KY, where he did research on the biological effects of radiation. While in Fort Knox, David and his wife welcomed their firstborn, Jeffrey Michael, in 1957. Soon after, the family returned to Boston, where Dave served as Chief Medical Resident at the Brigham, studied as a Special Graduate Student in Biology at M.I.T., and completed a fellowship in molecular biology at the Biophysics Research Laboratory. For the next decade, he served as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, where he taught clinical medicine at the Brigham while conducting research on the role of metals in the human body. It was during this time, in 1960, that David and his wife Nancy welcomed their second child, Susan Jane.

In 1972, the family moved to Los Angeles, where David was appointed Professor and Chairman of Medicine at the Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School and Chief of Internal Medicine at the L.A. County Martin Luther King, Jr. General Hospital. These new institutions were founded with the twin goals of training more minority physicians and of improving health care for the medically underserved population in South Central Los Angeles. David held these positions for 13 years, building a strong clinical department with residency and subspecialty training programs and establishing an undergraduate medical education program linked to U.C.L.A.

In 1985, David and Nancy moved to Karachi, Pakistan, where he accepted an appointment as head of the new Aga Khan University there. As Acting Rector of the University, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, and Medical Director of the hospital, David assumed responsibility for developing policies, procedures, and educational programs for the medical and nursing schools and patient care programs for the hospital. Additionally, he traveled widely to other hospitals and clinics in the Aga Khan Health Services network throughout India, Kenya and Tanzania. David loved the responsibility and challenge of this job, and both he and Nancy made many, many friends: expats, dignitaries, and colleagues.

In 1990, David and Nancy left Asia to semi-retire in Green Valley, Arizona, where they built a lovely adobe home. Continuing to utilize his professional skills, David taught clinical medicine at the University of Arizona Medical School and also worked as a Consultant in International Medicine with projects in South America and Saudi Arabia. For relaxation, he loved playing golf, while Nancy enjoyed bridge. They often got together with David’s sister, Mailyn Sorenson and her husband Maurice, who had lived in Green Valley for years. As well, they continued to travel extensively both abroad and to visit their children in Washington and Florida.

In 2007, the Ulmers moved to the nearby La Posada Retirement Community, where they continued to enjoy many friends, playing bridge, and where David was active in a Journal Club for retired physicians and a weekly Forum for residents.

In July of 2024, David lost his beloved wife of 70 years and, within a year, relocated to Stuart, Florida, to live near his daughter Susan and her husband, Robert. David is survived by his daughter, Susan Dermarkarian of Stuart, Florida (Robert), son, Jeffrey Ulmer of Winthrop, Washington (Laurie), and four grandchildren, Christopher Dermarkarian of Durham, North Carolina (Alexa), Emily Dermarkarian of Boston, Massachusetts, Alex Ulmer of Yucaipa, California (Amanda), and Nicolas Ulmer of Bellingham, Washington. He also had the privilege of being the great grandfather to Theodore Dermarkarian and Jace Ulmer.