Marshall J. Handleman, M.D., a devoted physician, veteran, educator, husband and father, passed away with his family at his side at the age of 85 in Nashville, Tennessee, where he had resided for the last three years of his life.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1939, Marshall was raised in Washington, D.C., alongside his older sister, Nadene. He was the son of Ellis “Sola” Handleman, a Ukrainian Jewish immigrant who narrowly survived the Russian Civil War, and Leatrice “Leah” Levinson, whose family emigrated from near Riga, Latvia. He spent his early childhood helping in his parents’ neighborhood grocery store and was raised in a close-knit family surrounded by maternal cousins and aunts. He recalled fond memories of his father dancing the Kazachok and Frank Sinatra playing in the background of daily life.

At age 12, following his parents’ divorce, Marshall moved with his mother and sister to Miami Beach, Florida. There, he formed a friendship with Jimmie Osceola while exploring the Everglades with his microscope—exchanging knowledge of insects and plants for lessons in horseback riding and marksmanship; Jimmie taught Marshall to shoot a pistol “from the hip.” Marshall attended Miami Beach High School and worked as a towel boy at the iconic Fontainebleau Hotel when it first opened in 1955. In his late teens, he also trained as a boxer at the famed Fifth Street Gym, where he met Angelo Dundee, who would later become the legendary trainer of Muhammad Ali—one of Marshall’s personal heroes. He went on to graduate from the University of Miami with degrees in Chemistry and Zoology, and later attended medical school there as well.

With the Vietnam War underway, Marshall volunteered for the U.S. Air Force as a physician and captain, compelled by the suffering of young men overseas. Deployed to Vietnam shortly after his father passed away from leukemia, 26 year-old Marshall manned a five-bed field hospital deep in the jungle, caring for both wounded soldiers and the local population, whose own doctors and nurses were being targeted by the Viet Cong. His courage earned him the Bronze Star for meritorious service. He also returned home with lasting health complications from Agent Orange herbicide exposure, two bouts of malaria, and the heavy toll of PTSD, which profoundly shaped the course of his life.

Determined to understand the psychological effects of trauma and “man’s inhumanity to man”, he completed a residency in Psychiatry at the University of Southern California. It was there he met Elsa Mackey, a nursing student who would become the love of his life. Their first conversation over coffee lasted six hours, and they were inseparable from that day forward. She affectionately called him by his middle name, "Jeff", and they married at the Malibu Courthouse after completing both of their medical programs and settled in Topanga Canyon, California, where they raised their children, Ian and Julie.

Marshall became Director of Woodview Calabasas Psychiatric Hospital and also maintained a private practice. Realizing that many of his patients’ symptoms were rooted in neurological causes, not just psychological ones, he returned to USC for a second residency—this time in Neurology. One of the rare physicians double-boarded in Psychiatry and Neurology, he went on to lead a distinguished career, including founding the Neurovascular Diagnostic Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and serving as a clinical instructor of Neurology at USC’s Keck School of Medicine.

Throughout his life, Marshall was a tireless advocate for others. While maintaining a private practice in Neurology at West Hills Hospital, he was one of the first researchers of chronic fatigue syndrome, treated traumatic brain injuries in LAPD officers and LAFD firefighters, and testified as an expert witness in a landmark case involving neurotoxic pesticide exposure among migrant farm workers—a case that resulted in a historic win against major chemical companies. Marshall helped to develop Brain Electrical Activity Mapping (B.E.A.M.), a pre-MRI technology which allowed new diagnostic insight into brain dysfunction. He also served as a medical advisor to the original Hawaii Five-0  television series.

When his own health began to decline from Agent Orange-related heart disease, he retired from private practice and returned to military service, working at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs to evaluate returning war veterans for PTSD. Later, when his wife Elsa was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he and his family cared for her with unrelenting devotion until her passing in 2014 at age 68. Her loss remained with him every day for the remainder of his life.

In 2022, after the unexpected death of his son, Ian, Marshall permanently relocated to Nashville to live with his daughter Julie and son-in-law, Jeffery Marshall, a talented musician and fellow Air Force veteran. He found great peace in Tennessee’s green hills, loved watching the red cardinals from the porch, and treasured conversations with the many family and friends who came to visit, some giving casual music performances in the parlor. Marshall would always request his favorite childhood folk song, Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" as a singalong encore. He fondly referred to their Nashville home as “Triple J Ranch”, where they spent three meaningful years together as a final family unit before his passing due to heart complications. Both Julie and Jeffery were by his side and sent him off with love, to be reunited with Elsa and Ian.

Dr. Handleman is preceded in death by his parents, wife Elsa Handleman, son Ian Handleman, sister Nadene Schantz, and sister-in-law Veronica Stanley. He is survived by his daughter Julie Handleman Marshall, son-in-law Jeffery Marshall, and many extended family members and grateful patients. His family would like to express their gratitude to the teams at Centennial Heart Hospital and Skyline Rehabilitation Hospital in Nashville for their outstanding care. He will be laid to rest at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills beside his wife, son and mother-in-law, Helene.

His family cannot begin to express how much he will be missed. As a loving husband, father and father-in-law, he was unmatched. Marshall made a tremendous difference over the course of his career as a healer, scientist and advocate. A truly selfless and caring person who dedicated his life to understanding and helping humanity, his legacy will live on in the countless lives he touched.

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