07/18/2025
Dr. Recker was among the prominent voices advocating for the role of vitamin D in maintaining bone health and preventing osteoporosis. Take your Vitamin D folks and/or get yourself some sunshine.
Earlier this week, Robert Recker, MD, a longtime faculty member, administrator and scholar, passed away. His loss is felt by many who worked with or were even taught by Dr. Recker during his more than 50 years at Creighton.
Dr. Recker’s expertise and passion was bone health, specifically how to combat and prevent osteoporosis. His formative years were during residence here at Creighton under Bob Heaney, MD, preparing him to eventually become director of the Osteoporosis Research Center in the 1980s and then, in the 1990s, pursuing a study that would lead to the biggest breakthrough in bone health in the late 20th century.
The only thing that perhaps eclipsed Dr. Recker’s research contributions was the direct impact he had on the lives of countless patients. As a flight surgeon in the Air Force, endocrinologist at Omaha’s Veteran's Administration Hospital and physician with St. Joseph’s Hospital, he always brought compassionate care those in need of healing.
In 2016, alumni from School of Medicine honored Dr. Recker with the Crystal Caduceus Award and in that same year he was named the inaugural holder of the O’Brien Chair in Health Sciences, named for alumni and supporters Joan Gurney O’Brien and Richard O’Brien.
To join in celebrating Dr. Recker's life, there will be a visitation today (Thursday) from 5-7 p.m. at Heafey-Hoffman-Dworak-Culter in midtown Omaha and then a funeral Mass at St. John’s Church tomorrow (Friday) at 10 a.m.
