I am humbled to call Robert H. Moyad, MD my father. Robert Moyad was born and raised in Kermanshah, Iran, and his physician father, aware of the world’s educational opportunities, sent each of his children to study abroad. Thus, in 1954, my father arrived in Austria and became the first Iranian to graduate from the University of Vienna Medical School. It was also there that he met the person (my mother, also the child of a notable physician) with whom he would spend the rest of his life (fig. 1).

During medical school, Dad observed an operation to remove an adrenal tumor and was so surprised by the patient’s almost immediate recovery from hypertension that he decided on a career in urology. My father was convinced there was no greater, productive or “happier” specialty than urology, and he carried that campaign over his entire 50-year career, which never dissipated from my brain (thank goodness).

After medical school, my father and mother moved to Cleveland, Ohio because the “needs no introduction” Chair of Urology at the time, Dr. Lester Persky, wanted him on the team. Dad completed his urology training at Case Western Reserve University, and when my parents heard of possible job openings not far from Cleveland, Dad opened his own practice in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1967, and soon thereafter, in 1968, another “needs no introduction,” Dr. Jack Lapides, the new Chair of University of Michigan (UM) Urology called him for assistance. The urology section was in transition, and they wanted occasional help training residents for at least a brief period. My dad would spend many years with residents from Wayne County, VA Ann Arbor and UM Urology. He loved and maintained his “part-time” nexus with UM, while overseeing his own growing and successful Center for Urology private practice just across town. “Cooperation instead of competition” was one of his endless mantras. Another urology giant—Dr. Edward McGuire (UM Chair 1983-1993)—became one of his closest friends. Dad was named Chief of Surgery at Beyer Hospital in Ypsilanti, then Chief of Staff at Saline Community Hospital. He was head of the Department of Urology at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ypsilanti, elected President of the Michigan Urological Society and was an extremely proud member of the AUA.

Figure 1. Robert and Eva Moyad, photo from their wedding day in Vienna, Austria (1962).

I am still in awe of what he and my mom accomplished together. Leaving their countries, they set out on a remarkable journey with only a couple hundred dollars, and although Dad was fluent in Farsi, he managed to learn German the summer before medical school and then spent a final partial summer in Vienna to become proficient in English before residency. Through hard work and fearless ambition, he and Mom carved out a beautiful life for our family. The plethora of obstacles are still essentially impossible for me and my brothers (Tom, a highly accomplished orthopedic surgeon, and Andy, a respected New York executive) to fathom. My mom’s family was Catholic, my dad was Baha’i, his mom was Muslim, and his dad’s side of the family was a mix of Baha’i and Judaism. It was the 1950s and ’60s, and these religions were coming together whether the family, or any outsiders, liked it or not, and it was working, but I know it took work. “Never abandon your boat,” he used to metaphorically say, after you have found and committed to something. Although my grandfather wanted my father to come home after medical school and marry someone he had approved of locally in his birth country, my father had to tell his dad that this was not going to be his destiny. My grandfather eventually supported this choice and my parent’s dramatic decision to start a life in the U.S. as first-generation immigrants.

Countless experiences endeared so many to my dad, from skiing with Mom to celebratory gatherings for UM colleagues at our family farm, where he also started and maintained an organic vegetable garden over 40 years ago, long before it was cool. He never missed my basketball games or allowed inability to pay to get in the way of seeing any patients. If you were fortunate enough to have a guffaw with my father, by simply exchanging sarcasm or watching him attempt to dance at his son’s weddings, you would realize the sheer beauty of having a strict but simultaneously selfless dad was something quite magical.

Figure 2. Robert and Eva Moyad, from their announcement of a Professorship in their names at UM Department of Urology, funded by past patients of my dad (2010)—currently occupied by his altruistic colleague, Dr. Brent Hollenbeck.

Figure 3. Robert and Mark Moyad, at the Reed M. Nesbit Annual Conference and UM Football Alumni weekend event (2016).

In a strange way, when he struggled with his own urological cancer for over the past decade, there was also something harmonious and magical in his own care. Observing Dr. Peter Fischer (his partner in private practice), Dr. Cheryl Lee (Chair at Ohio State), Dr. Jim Montie (past Chair of Michigan Urology) and Dr. Khaled Hafez (UM Urology), along with his iconic urology nurse, Julie Derossett, take care of him was a reflection of how my dad took care of his patients (fig. 2), as if a kind of spiritual calling or directive were dictating the entire process. So, when my father died last year, I felt as if the entire global Urology family, including the current and most recent local UM Chairs of Urology (Dr. Ganesh Palapattu and Dr. David Bloom), in their own way summoned a urological army of angels to support my mom and our family. Multiple past residents and colleagues from around the world described him as “larger than life,” and this resonated with me, whether I was a child working on my coloring book next to the operating room, just to see him finally emerge with his scrubs, as if Superman had walked into the room, or I was giving a lecture at a urology meeting (fig. 3), just to see him in the audience trying hard not to externally beam, whether I bombed or not. As I was writing this article, I realized I was not just fortunate enough to be guided by a “larger than life,” globally impactful urologist father, but a larger than life, globally impactful extended Urology family, which means I am one of the most fortunate individuals I have ever known.