“You could never tell he was busy, and he was busy constantly,” said Eric Powitzky, MD, FACS, who shared an office with Weber for 20 years. “He did not have a sharp word or an offensive manner in any of the time I knew him.” He always had a big smile and a warm handshake for whomever he greeted, his contemporaries said. Sam Weber, MD, FACS, insisted he be called just “Sam,” said his longtime partner and great friend Ron Moses, MD, FACS. Weber served as Chief of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at St. Luke’s Hospital and President of the St. Luke’s medical staff, full clinical professor at the Bobby R. Alford Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center and The University of Texas Medical Branch. “Like many of us from that era, Sam Weber's outstanding skills were shaped under legends of the times like heart surgeon Michael E. DeBakey, MD, and distinguished otolaryngologist Bobby Alford, MD,” said Mas Takashima, MD, FACS, Chairman of Houston Methodist’s Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. He added that Sam and wife Simone left a generous gift to the department to be used for the residency and education programs that “will continue to inspire future leaders in our field.” Weber could decide one day that he would have a clinic the next day, and, before the clinic would open, he would have 30 or 40 people who had called for an appointment to get some of his time.

“They’d say, ‘I’m Sam’s bud;’ they all felt like they knew him best and were his good friend,” said Moses who met Sam on a sweltering weekend in September 1997. Moses got to know Weber when the air conditioning in their Texas Medical Center (TMC) office was out for the weekend. They later moved offices to Southside Commons in 2020. “On a handshake, we knew this partnership was going to work. I had something rare and special with Sam, and I knew it. We were both taking a chance, but we knew it was a sure thing,” Moses said. “Whatever Sam said, he meant. He was straightforward, and everyone knew it and loved him for it. He would talk to his patients exactly as he would talk to his friends.”

Weber died at age 82 in 2022 after a lengthy illness that was complicated by COVID-19. The colleagues who recently remembered Weber read like a who’s who of Texas Medical Center master physicians, otolaryngologists and heads of the departments of the major institutions and that includes his brother Randy Weber, MD, FACS, former longtime chair of the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. “My brother never worked a day in his life,” said Randy Weber, who is now a consultant for MD Anderson and Dell Medical School in Austin. “My brother was dedicated and loved what he did. It was never work to him. He was an awesome mentor, close friend and the best brother ever!” “Rising through the academic ranks, I faced many challenging decisions both personal and professional. Sam was always a great sounding board and provided sage advice. I am sure he kept me from driving off into the ditch many times.” Randy Weber, an internationally recognized head and neck surgeon who was 11 years younger than Sam, said his brother was the best diagnostician he ever saw. “Sam was among a cadre of great diagnosticians. The right diagnosis is the toughest part of the job. I was always amazed how he could come down with the right diagnosis every time even though the patient’s symptoms were subtle.” He said his brother often found tumors in patients that had escaped detection by others. Moses said Sam “had an element of humility in his work that endeared him to even the toughest characters, and there are a lot of smart and tough characters in the Texas Medical Center. He was willing to question his own diagnosis and bring in younger partners for their ideas and thoughts. In surgery, he was always trying to improve and was willing to listen and discuss with others.” He added that when the TMC started publishing its own newspaper, Sam was the cover feature of the first issue. “Everyone knew him and respected him. He set a standard of excellence and loyalty that those of us who knew him tried to model ourselves after.” In the last years of his life, the Center for ENT honored the Sam Weber Employee of the Year for the three traits of the honor’s namesake—integrity, compassion and excellence. The Center for ENT is now Houston Methodist ENT Specialists. His contemporaries said Sam taught them about clinic and working with patients—skills they didn’t develop during medical school and residency. “We were prepared in all our medical knowledge, but we didn’t really learn how to take care of a patient and make a diagnosis. He practiced a very high level and quality of medicine, and we were lucky to learn it right there at the beginning of our careers. He was an active part of our training program,” said Donovan.

“As fate would have it, we shared an office for 20 years, our desks together, just the two of us. I was his closest daily contact, and he was mine,” Powitzky said. “I felt a personal affinity for him, looked up to him. He was invaluable to me during my early career. He was an old-fashioned physician. One of those guys you could call for everything.” Friends said Sam and his wife Simone traveled the world, went antiquing, and held dinner parties. Sam was a great collector of memorabilia—especially from Houston area NASA astronauts and from his early days in the Navy. “They were both so much fun. You always wanted to be at Sam’s table because he would be holding court and telling stories. You didn’t care if you’d heard the story before; it was still a great story,” Moses said. Sam has passed on but his legacy lives on among his family, many friends, patients and those he helped train to become the next generation of otolaryngologists-head and neck surgeons.

Friends said Sam and his wife Simone traveled the world, went antiquing, and held dinner parties. Sam was a great collector of memorabilia—especially from Houston area NASA astronauts and from his early days in the Navy. “They were both so much fun. You always wanted to be at Sam’s table because he would be holding court and telling stories. You didn’t care if you’d heard the story before; it was still a great story,” Moses said. Sam has passed on but his legacy lives on among his family, many friends, patients and those he helped train to become the next generation of otolaryngologists-head and neck surgeons.