Dr. and Mrs. David Margulies Encourage Continuity of Care Through Scholarships, OB/GYN Leadership

For nearly four decades, David Margulies, ’61 MD, of Napa, California, devoted his career to caring for women and families, often across generations. Now, he and his wife, Mary, are ensuring that the values that guided his life in medicine will continue to shape the future of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

In 2025, the couple documented a special commitment: a bequest to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology that will establish an endowed professorship and the Dr. David M. and Mary Pim Margulies Research Innovation Fund. The bequest will also bolster the David M. and Mary Pim Margulies Scholarship, established in 2015 and supported by the couple each year. Dr. Margulies said he was determined to do his part so that future medical students can pursue their dreams without the burden of overwhelming debt.

“I was able to receive an excellent medical education without the stress of student debt. Mary and I would like future generations to have the same opportunity. The knowledge and guidance over 17 years from Larry Kuhn, associate dean for Development and Alumni Relations at Feinberg, enabled us to facilitate and ensure our intentions were met during our lifetime and through our estate,” Dr. Margulies said.

Dr. Margulies’s desire to give back is rooted in his own path to medicine. Raised in Fort Lee, New Jersey, Dr. Margulies grew up working in his father’s small neighborhood pharmacy, delivering prescriptions by bicycle and later filling prescriptions under supervision. He earned a pharmacy degree from Columbia University before deciding to pursue medicine and was accepted to Northwestern in 1957. During medical school, he continued working part time at a pharmacy in Chicago to help support himself.

He recalled medical school being demanding but deeply formative. “Like it is for most medical students, it was difficult. You worked very hard. But Northwestern was very good,” he said.

Faculty members set a standard that stayed with Dr. Margulies throughout his career, he said, shaping both his clinical approach and his expectations of excellence. He gravitated early toward obstetrics and gynecology, drawn by its unique combination of medical care, surgery, and long-term relationships with patients.

Those relationships often extended for decades, as he cared for his patients’ daughters and even granddaughters.

“OB/GYN checked all the boxes,” he said. “I liked people. I liked being with people.”

He became known for a bedside manner characterized by easy humor. His light touch sometimes extended even to the operating room; on one occasion, a patient asked to tell a joke before a routine dilation and curettage, and the shared smile set a calm, human tone before the procedure.

“I enjoyed joking with my patients,” he said. “When you can share a laugh, it makes everything easier.”

After completing training at George Washington University and Charity Hospital of Louisiana, then serving in the US Air Force, Dr. Margulies spent most of his professional life in the Washington, DC, area, eventually running a solo practice for more than 25 years while also serving as a clinical professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at George Washington University.

The new commitments of Dr. and Mrs. Margulies look to the future as intentionally as they honor the past. Scholarship support will help ease financial pressures for medical students, allowing them to focus on learning and on patient care. Meanwhile, the endowed professorship in Obstetrics and Gynecology will provide lasting support for faculty leadership, advancing clinical care, education, and research in the field.

“Dr. Margulies’s bequest will strengthen our department for generations,” said Serdar Bulun, MD, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the John J. Sciarra Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “By supporting both a professorship and a research fund, he is investing in the people and ideas that move women’s health forward. We are profoundly grateful for his vision and trust.”

For more information about supporting the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, please contact Jillian Hazen at jillian.hazen@northwestern.edu or 312-503-1723.

For more information about scholarships, please contact Larry Kuhn at larry-kuhn@northwestern.edu or 312-503-1717.

This story was published in the March 2026 issue of The Philanthropist, a newsletter for supporters and friends of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Read past issues here.