Michael B. Bunim, M.D. passed away on August 5, 2011, 2 days before his 67th birthday, after a long illness as a result of heart surgery in 2008, when he suffered an anoxic brain injury. Michael is survived by his wife, Cindy, and his two children, Alyssa and Jay, as well as numerous friends and family on the East and West Coasts, including his sister, Elizabeth Karten, of Del Mar, California. Michael was born in New York, but his family moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland when his father, Joseph Bunim M.D., went to work at the National Institutes of Health. He graduated Bethesda Chevy Chase High School in 1961.

 Phi Beta Kappa at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania, he graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1965, and then went on to graduate from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1969. An accomplished musician, he played the guitar, piano and clarinet. While in medical school in New York City, he played in a rock band of fellow medical students. In 1973, he completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Francisco. His weekends were spent at the house he built high in the hills of the Mendocino coast. From 1975 on, he was an instructor in Clinical Medicine at the University of California School of Medicine in San Francisco. From 1979 to 1985, he was on the California Medical Quality Review Committee, and in 1982 became the chairman of the committee. In 1985, Michael became a Physician Advisor for the California Medical Review Inc. During this time, he had a private practice in medicine at Mt. Zion Hospital, then California Pacific Medical Center and eventually returned to Kaiser in San Francisco in 1988, where he dedicated himself to his patients for over twenty years until his early retirement in 2009 due to the brain injury.

Michael met Cindy in 1983, when they both lived on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. They spent weekends together on Michael's boat, a 36- foot Grand Banks, in Sausalito and around the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Delta. In 1988, after years traveling the world together, they moved to Marin County and got married at their house in the hills of Novato. In 1995, Michael became a father when Alyssa was born and then again in 1997 when Jay was born. His children were his greatest joy in life. His medical office was filled with their pictures, and he loved telling stories about them to his patients and colleagues. Spending time with his children was his favorite pastime, especially family trips to Hawaii. A true Giants' fan, Michael got to see his beloved team win the World Series. We will never forget his wit and dry sense of humor, the way his blue eyes lit up when he smiled, the sound of him playing his guitar or piano, his love for his children, and devotion to his patients. Gone too soon, Michael will forever be in our hearts.