Karl M Morgenstein M.D's Obituary
Karl M. Morgenstein, M.D., October 15, 1929 – January 14, 2026
"Doctor Karl" was a fixture in South Florida since arriving in Hollywood in 1971. He had a private practice as an Ear, Nose & Throat, Head & Neck, and Facial Reconstructive Plastic Surgeon - with specialties in sinus and micro-ear surgery. He was a member of the senior staff of Hollywood Memorial Hospital from 1977 to 1988, a Clinical Professor of Otolaryngology at the University Of Miami School Of Medicine, and a member of the visiting staff of Jackson Memorial Hospital.
He served on the Board of Directors of Temple Sinai of Hollywood in 1974 and on the Board of Directors of Temple Beth El of Hollywood in 1976. He was a member of the Allocations Committee of Jewish Federation of South Broward in 1977.
From 1972 to 1999, Karl was a Senior Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) for the Federal Aviation Administration giving physical examinations to airline, commercial and private pilots from all around South Florida. In 1989, he founded the first drug testing consortium in the United States approved by the FAA for the commercial aviation and airline industries, based at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport: The AmeriJet Consortium (now known as Flightline Drug Testing) for which he served as its Medical Review Officer. "Doctor Karl", as he was known by pilots, mechanics and flight crews around South Florida ("DK" as he was known to his staff) assisted the members of the industry with kindness and professionalism, helping to weed out the very few true "bad apples", and providing help and counseling to those who simply made a mistake that jeopardized their careers. As an accomplished pilot himself, Doctor Karl was able to relate to the members of Flightline Drug Testing. He received his private pilot's license in 1969 in Westchester County, New York and subsequently his commercial pilot's license, multi-engine rating, and instrument rating at North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines, flying a variety of airplanes all around the skies of South Florida and beyond.
Karl was also a volunteer pilot for Angel Flight of Florida/Southeast from 1985 to 2000, drawing on his unique combination of skills to fly people in need of medical treatment who could not tolerate and/or afford commercial air transportation, or for whom private flying would be a faster and less traumatic way to get to their treatment center. From 1988 until 2015, he served as the Medical Liaison Officer of Angel Flight of Florida/Southeast, evaluating and clearing patients who were going to fly aboard Angel Flight aircraft, making sure that it was safe for them to fly and that the crews knew how to properly accommodate the patients' illnesses.
Karl had a distinguished career at Mount Sinai Hospital of New York, beginning with a "plum" internship that he won in1955 upon graduation from medical school. He followed his internship with Assistant Residencies in Surgery and Otolaryngology at Mount Sinai. After serving honorably in the United States Air Force Medical Corps at Eglin AFB in the Florida panhandle, where he rose to the rank of Captain, and was Chief of Staff at the base hospital, Karl returned to Mount Sinai as Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology rising to Full Professor and Chief of the Department of Otolaryngology at Mount Sinai's City Hospital Center at Elmhurst, a position he held from 1966 until moving to Florida in 1971. He also served as a member of the Graduate School of Hunter College, City University of New York in 1969.
As his "swan song" from Mount Sinai Hospital, Karl produced a film from a slide show he had developed of a lecture he had given around the World on Sinus Surgery, using actual successive slices through a cadaver head to provide the view now achieved by an MRI scan (well before MRI was available in hospitals). That film won the prestigious Barraquer Memorial Award "in recognition of the important contributions to medicine and surgery through cinematography" and the Award of Merit from the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology in 1972.
Karl was born in Baltimore, Maryland the son of Max and Clara (Landau). He graduated from high school at the age of 16 in 1945, just as WWII was ending, and enrolled at the University of Maryland (sharing his classes with returning war heroes) from which he received a Bachelor of Science Degree with First Honors in 1949, as a Member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. He also held the school record for the high-hurdles.
In those days, medical schools had strict quotas regarding the number of Jews and other minority groups that they would accept, so even with his stellar marks it took time and persistence to gain admission. So, in the interim he completed a master's program in Pharmacy, during which he served as an Instructor in Zoology and Mammalian Anatomy, while continuing to apply to medical schools.
After his Master of Science Degree was conferred in 1951, he was accepted to Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia, from which he graduated in 1955 with his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) Degree, having achieved the Award for Highest Honors in his Class, and as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honorary Society.
Over the decades, he taught countless graduate courses on most of the continents, authored numerous scholarly publications, and made scores of scientific presentations. He was licensed to practice medicine in Florida and New York and was a Diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners. He was a member of every major otolaryngology society in the World. He was widely known as a true "Renaissance Man" with a quick wit and a fabulous sense of humor, but perhaps above all Karl will be remembered for his compassion for and dedication to everyone he touched.
Beyond all of the accolades, Karl was most proud of his 70-year loving marriage to Carol, and of being a devoted father to his two sons Charles (Sharon Roman) and Ron (Danijela Vulic); grandfather to Melissa, Michael and David; and great-grandfather to Zachary. Others who mourn Karl today are his 100-year-old, dear sister, Selma Pustin; her children: Shelley (Paul Gardner) and Bobby; grandchildren Max, Josh, Jake, Cody and Savannah and a growing brood of her great-grandchildren; as well as a number of the "Philadelphia cousins". He is also mourned by the dedicated and compassionate caregivers who helped him and Carol these last few years: Vernon, Heather, Rita, Marjorie, Nakeisha, Saturn, Anneth, Diane, Beryl, and Alma of Firstlantic Healthcare, and their stellar supervisor - Mary Gizel. The family wishes to express their sincere thanks and appreciation to all of them for the love, attention and care they gave to Karl and Carol. "Doc" as they called him, loved all of you very much and could not thank you enough for all you did for him and for Carol before him.
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