Harold Woodrow Mayberger died at his home in Craig on May 17, 2005. He was 85.

Mayberger was born Aug. 28, 1919, in Astoria, Queens, N.Y., the only child of Grace Annie Kemp and George Joseph Mayberger.

Mayberger was named for then-President Woodrow Wil-son, and he grew up in the same house with his parents, grandparents and several aunts, uncles and cousins. He attended a one room schoolhouse in Queens and later enrolled at PS-126. He graduated from William Jennings Bryant High School in 1937 and received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Alabama in 1941.

He was the first member of his family to attend high school or college. A true scholar, Mayberger was accepted at Union Seminary in Manhattan and Long Island College of Medicine in Brooklyn, and he chose to become a doctor. Because of WWII, he attended medical school year-round for three years and received his M.D. in 1944. He joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in Central and South America. After the war, he completed residencies in pathology and obstetrics and gynecology and also graduated from law school.

He had many extraordinary experiences in his life, including traveling around the world, meeting three U.S. presidents, and being invited by Admiral Richard Evelyn Bird on one of his Arctic explorations. Mayberger practiced obstetrics and gynecology for more than 40 years on the north shore of Long Island and was associate professor of embryology at the Medical College of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He was very active in the American Cancer Society and was particularly interested in breast cancer research and providing mammograms to underprivileged women.

Dr. Mayberger served on the editorial staff of The Journal of Legal Medicine and served as president of the American Cancer Society’s Long Island Division, Long Island Cancer Council, Nassau County Academy of Medicine, Nassau County Medical Society, and the Nassau County OB/GYN Society. In 1995, Nassau County proclaimed Harold W. Mayberger Day to recognize his exemplary service to the women of Long Island. He was dearly loved by his patients, office and hospital staff, and all those with whom he worked. He was a pilot, historian and an avid genealogist who traced his family back to the 1500s.

He visited family homesteads in England and Germany and named his home in Craig “Top of the Hill,” making him the fifth generation to live in a home so named. He had a lifelong interest in the study of genetics, but after the adoption of four granddaughters from China, all of whom were just like their new parents, he joked that he no longer believed in the science.

At the time of his death, Mayberger had just completed a German class at CNCC. He will be remembered for his love of learning and for his wonderful sense of humor.

Mayberger married Eva Marie (Eve) Yerkovich on March 10, 1951, in Astoria, Queens, and together they had three children. They lived in Soyosset, Locust Valley and Glen Cove on Long Island until Eve passed away in 1992. In 2000, Mayberger moved to Craig to be close to his daughter and her family, and on Sept. 30, 2000, he married his longtime friend, Barbura Clintsman, in Babylon.

He loved living in Craig, surrounded by friendly and caring people, and often said these last five years were the very best years of his life. He was a recent convert and an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a kind and generous man, a loving husband, father, and grandfather, and a good example to all.

Mayberger is survived by his lovely wife, Barbura Mayberger of Craig; daughter, Mary (Dave) Pressley of Craig; sons John (Lissa) of Syosset, N.Y., and James (Esmeralda) of Pasadena, Calif.; and grandchildren Ben, Daniel (Emily), Evan, Jennifer, Lisa, Marianne, and Sara Pressley, Edgar and Lizette Pineda, Katie and Peter Mayberger, and Joseph Parrinello.

Mayberger was preceded in death by his parents and wife, Eve.

Funeral services were conducted by Bishop Jeff Robinson on May 21, 2005, at the LDS Church and internment was at the Craig Cemetery. Funeral arrangements were handled by Grant Mortuary.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society or the LDS Church Perpetual Education Fund.