Doctor testifies man suffered from dementia since 2001

S. Edward Marder was diagnosed with dementia in 2001, the former Highland Park man's personal physician testified Wednesday.

The testimony came on the third day of the trial against Mary Williams, Marder's personal nurse. Williams is charged with financial exploitation of an elderly person.

Lake County prosecutors claim that Williams, 70, of Reno, Nev., used her position as Marder's caretaker to enrich herself, inflating her salary to $459,000 in 2004.

But Williams' defense attorney counters that Marder, who died in 2007 at the age of 93, willingly paid Williams large sums of money to care for him and manage his household.

Dr. Barry Goldberg of Highland Park testified that he was Marder's doctor for more than 20 years, but that Marder also saw a doctor in Arizona when he vacationed there each year.

In 2001, Goldberg testified, the Arizona physician sent him a letter saying that he had diagnosed Marder with progressive dementia and had prescribed medication to treat the disease.

Goldberg said he concurred with the diagnosis and continued the medication regimen during the remaining years of Marder's life.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Thomas Breen of Chicago, Goldberg said that dementia is generally described as an increasing difficulty in remembering names and details.

It was not unusual for a man of 86, as Marder was when diagnosed in 2001, to suffer from dementia, Goldberg said, and the medications he prescribed for Marder were design to assist his memory and ability to recall.

Associate Judge George Bridges is hearing the case without a jury and said Wednesday that testimony would resume in March.