William Gebhart, MD

Bill Gebhart, MD passed away on July 7, 2022, at home, with his wife Rosemarie at his side. He was 94 years old.

Bill joined Sansum Clinic on August 1, 1957 in the Internal Medicine Department. He went to the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and Cleveland Clinic. In the mid-1970s, he was one of the original members of the newly created Nephrology Department and was involved in dialysis treatment in Santa Barbara since its inception here. He was involved in the short-lived efforts at kidney transplants in Santa Barbara around that time as well. He was involved in Clinic leadership roles during his last few decades at The Clinic – he was here for more than 40 years – and was one of the instrumental players in the early 1970s in the creation of the then-novel 1206(l) Medical Foundation model in California.

Santa Barbara Medical Foundation Clinic along with Palo Alto Medical Foundation Clinic and Gould Medical Foundation Clinic were the three original Medical Foundations in the State of California in the early 1970s. Dr. Gebhart and other visionaries at Santa Barbara Medical Clinic with their colleagues at the other two Clinics mentioned above were responsible for creating the legislation that created the 1206 (l) model that now cares for millions of California residents.

Bill remained a practicing internist/nephrologist until his retirement from the Clinic in 1999, 42 years and two months after he started. He was the Assistant Medical Director of the Clinic at the time of his retirement. He was very involved in quality initiatives and JAHCO accreditation at the time of his retirement and went on to work part time as a JAHCO surveyor after his retirement.

He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Rosemarie, and his two children, Judy and Cynthia, as well as his stepchildren Nicole and Madaline and two grandchildren.

There is no scheduled memorial service, per his wishes.

He will be missed by all who knew him.

The family has requested that any memorial gifts be made to VNA Health or Sansum Clinic.