10/18/2026
🕊️ In Loving Memory of Dr. Sami Nazzal ❤️
I’ve been a little harder to reach this week. I’ve let some phone calls go unanswered, stepped away from conversations, and generally kept to myself. I’ve needed some time to reflect.
My uncle, Dr. Sami Nazzal, passed away recently.
We came to California following Uncle Sami. So much of our life here is possible because of his generosity. He was quiet, mellow, sometimes a little gruff. Like all the Nazzal brothers, he didn’t say much. At least, not in English, and my terrible Arabic didn’t help facilitate any of that, haha. But he cared deeply, and without making a production of it. I think that’s why I understood him. I’m much the same way.
Growing up, I mostly saw him at family gatherings. Watching him miss holidays while building his practice was part of why I didn’t pursue medicine myself. Funny how I now recognize a little of that same work ethic in myself, albeit in a completely different field.
“Nazzal? Are you related to Dr. Nazzal?” I’ve heard that question my whole life. He spent decades saving lives and teaching future physicians. He worked until illness forced him to stop. Yet at home, he was simply Uncle Sami, tending fruit trees and animals, welcoming family from around the world.
Since his passing, I’ve heard and read stories from patients, students, residents, and colleagues whose lives he changed, many people I never knew he’d touched. For a man of so few words, it’s remarkable how many people have something meaningful to say about him.
I knew he was an extraordinary physician. What I hadn’t fully understood was how deeply he connected with people. Reading their stories, I recognize the same quiet compassion I’ve always seen in my dad. The family resemblance runs deep.
So many of us gathered around him in his final days that the staff kept having to send us out. It felt right for a man whose home had always welcomed family.
His legacy isn’t just the lives he saved. It’s the lives he changed. I’m one of them.
More than anything, I feel gratitude: for his generosity, his example, and the life our family has here because of him.
Thank you for everything, Uncle Sami. Rest in peace.
