Dr. Barbara E. Hamdan, 79

Dr. Barbara Ellen Brunet Hamdan, a longtime Princeton resident, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, Nov. 27  in the St. Francis Hospital in Trenton.

Barbara was born in North Adams, Mass., the daughter of Alfonse Paul and Ellen Mae Brunet, and the eldest of four sisters Joanie, Constance and Marilyn.

Barbara attended St. Joseph’s Elementary and graduated from Cathedral High School in Springfield, Mass. She received her undergraduate degree at Our Lady of the Elms College, also in Springfield and went on to earn her Medical Degree at the University of Vermont Medical School in Burlington, Vt. It was there she became engaged to and later married her best friend and soul mate, Hussein M. Hamdan.

Hussein and Barbara Hamdan moved to Princeton in 1958 and Barbara completed her medical internship at St. Francis Hospital in Trenton and her residency at the New Jersey Neuropsychiatric Institute in Skillman, NJ. Afterwards, Barbara and Hussein began their own successful practice in Holistic and Clinical Nutrition becoming board certified in Integrative Medicine. She practiced medicine and helped thousands of people heal during her more than fifty years as a doctor.

Barbara loved God, her family, her friends, her patients, and everyone she ever met. Her warm smile, her gentle touch, her brilliant mind, and her everlasting faith and her giving heart inspired everyone around her. She had given so much of herself and her heart that she had little left for herself when her time came. Barbara Ellen Brunet Hamdan has been called home to be with her first born son, Ziad, whom she missed dearly.

She is survived by her husband, Hussein M. Hamdan, her eight adoring children, thirteen grandchildren and her two sisters, Joan Barnett of Berkeley, Calif. and Constance Jabbar of Long Island, N.Y., as well as the countless friends, neighbors, and patients. She will be missed.

Funeral services were held on Monday, Oct. 31 at 11 a.m. in the Kimble Funeral Home, followed by a private burial in Blawenburg Cemetery.

Visiting hours, at the funeral home, were Sunday, Oct. 30, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Donations in her memory may be made to Calvary Chapel of the Berkshires, 178 Harryel Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201 (calvaryberkshires.org).