Martin George Täuber was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1951 and grew up in Baden following his family’s return to Switzerland. The life and academic career of this Swiss-American dual citizen were shaped by his ties to his two homelands: He studied medicine at the University of Zurich and worked as a senior physician at the University Hospital Zurich. His career then took him back to the US, this time to the West Coast. Martin Täuber spent ten years working at the University of California and San Francisco General Hospital. It was there that he met his wife Belle Lee-Täuber, an American, and where their two children were born. According to an interview he gave upon his resignation as Rector, his connection to the city remained strong, even after he returned to Switzerland to stay: “San Francisco is our second home, so to speak. My wife’s family lives there and we visit them at least once a year.” (Berner Zeitung, July 30, 2016)

Martin Täuber’s appointment as Full Professor of Infectious Diseases and Co-Director of the Institute for Infectious Diseases at the University of Bern prompted their return to Switzerland in 1997. He was both Director and Chief Physician of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Inselspital. He then served as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine from 2004 to 2008. In 2011, he succeeded Urs Würgler as Rector of the University of Bern. Back then, with 3,700 employees and 15,000 students, the University was considerably smaller than it is today. Following the profile-based strategy implemented under Rector Würgler, the new Rector pursued a consolidation course and viewed himself as a bridge builder. As a passionate physician who had dedicated his life to researching and preventing infectious diseases such as meningitis, he then faced the challenge of managing a complex educational institution with different specialist cultures.

It was during this phase that I got to know him in my role as Dean of the Faculty of Humanities; I was deeply impressed by not only his cosmopolitan views and intellectual candor, but by his human warmth more than anything. His ability to reach out to others and to work together to find solutions quickly earned the new Rector a tremendous amount of recognition across all eight faculties. This also benefited his efforts to promote the University of Bern’s academic debate on current political issues and helped keep these discussions fact-based. Martin Täuber was deeply concerned about climate-related issues, as well, and their scientific study was expanded further during his term of office. He also was adept at communicating with people outside the academic world and was committed to conveying the University’s concerns to politicians and the general public in a way that could be understood. He considered the Dalai Lama’s visit in 2013 as well as the awarding of an honorary doctorate to Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015 to be two of his most memorable encounters during his tenure.

In addition to his family and his profession, religion played a major role in his life. “Faith shapes my ethical beliefs and is an important foundation upon which my life is built,” said the Rector when he entered into office (Der Bund, August 20, 2011). He combined his interest in matters of faith with scientific questions examined in depth at the University’s interdisciplinary Center for Space and Habitability, founded during his tenure. One of those questions was what the discovery of life on other planets would mean for how humankind sees itself. Faith also helped him when he was diagnosed with a serious illness shortly after his retirement. He suffered from a form of Alzheimer’s disease that caused visuospatial disorientation and visual impairments.

Martin Täuber was candid about his illness and the heavy strain that his growing need for care placed on his next of kin. This made him a role model for all those who advocate in favor of eliminating the taboo of dementia and against the isolation of patients and their families. In the fall of 2021, for example, he took part in a bicycle tour that served both to fundraise for organizations supporting people impacted by dementia and to express his unwavering zest for life. His personal message was: “You can live a good life, even if you’re diagnosed with dementia.” This gave courage to many impacted people (portrait of Martin Täuber, alzheimer-schweiz.ch).

At the end of his life, this dedicated physician and researcher had become a patient. A fate he accepted with great dignity. The University of Bern mourns the loss of one of its great leaders and thanks him for his many years of commitment as Institute Director, Dean and Rector. Everyone who knew him treasured his enormous dedication, his candor and, above all, his tremendous humanity.

The funeral service will take place on January 9, 2026 at 2 p.m. in the Friedenskirche.

Virginia Richter, Rector of the University of Bern, December 2025