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Chris G. McMahon, Obituary for Marcel Waldinger, The Journal of Sexual Medicine, Volume 16, Issue 8, August 2019, Pages 1125–1127, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2019.05.014
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Professor Marcel D. Waldinger passed away suddenly on May 11, 2019.
Marcel was a neuropsychiatrist, a basic and clinical researcher in sexual medicine, and a longstanding member of the International Society of Sexual Medicine.
He was born in Amsterdam on January 17, 1955, and was the second and last child of Leo and Paula Waldinger. His only sibling, Ruth, was born in Amsterdam 11 months earlier. Marcel and Ruth were and remained very close and enjoyed together the activities that young children enjoy in Northern Europe. He spent countless hours with his sister enjoying the Amsterdam winter snow and the summer sun and would often sneak out of his parents’ home with his sister against their wishes to toboggan down the gentle hills of Amsterdam’s winter snow–covered parklands.
Marcel undertook primary education at the Rosh Pinga Elementary School in Amsterdam and secondary education at the Maimonides Secondary School in Amsterdam. He was a diligent and gifted student who developed an interest in art and music from a very young age. He was taught and trained at the piano and was, in adult life, a talented pianist. At social and family events and, in fact, whenever a piano was available, he would often entertain those present with both classical and contemporary pieces. However, his real musical passion was jazz and swing music. He was an enthusiastic and skilled advocate and participant in all forms of visual art and was, as a child and adolescent, accomplished at drawing and, in particular, illustrating school projects. His interest in visual art continued into adult life and expanded to include painting, where oils and acrylics were his preferred medium, and landscapes and, eventually, still life and abstract were his preferred expression. He did, however, continue to sketch, and his art was characterized by an extraordinary amount of detail. His sister, Ruth, recounts the detail of his sketching the Acropolis at the age of 24. Although he was not an active sportsman, he was a keen fan of soccer and followed Amsterdam AFC Ajax and occasionally attended their games at Amsterdam’s Johan Cruyff Arena.
