Cebul retires after 30-plus years as surgeon in Wooster

When a patient had to have a general surgery over the last couple decades in this area, one name came up as much or more than any other: Dr. Robert Cebul.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a patient say, ‘Well, I really want Dr. Cebul to be able to do it,’” Wooster Community Hospital CEO Scott Boyes said. “He just has earned that reputation over the years by providing the highest quality of patient care. That’s really his only priority.

“He’s been very passionate over the years and wants to push the hospital to always do what’s right — to make sure his patients are cared for the best they can be.”

After 34 years as a general surgeon, all of it taking care of patients in his native Wayne County, Cebul retired July 31.

Cebul and his older brother, Dr. Frank Cebul III, both knew from the time they were in middle school that they wanted to be doctors. The inspiration was their father, the late Frank Cebul II, who was one of the area’s most respected surgeons, and his sons certainly continued that legacy. Frank Cebul III retired in 2021 after serving the people of Wayne County as a family physician.

“I’m very, very fortunate to have had an occupation that I truly loved,” Cebul said. “It made it less like work and much more rewarding than that. All of the patients made such a difference, and all of my co-workers made it all possible. I’m going to miss all of that.”

A 1976 Wooster High School graduate, Cebul received his medical degree from Vanderbilt University. During part of a six-year residency, he worked in Australia and met his wife Bernadette, who was an operating room nurse.

Despite having other job offers, Cebul chose to return to his hometown of Wooster to begin his surgical career in August 1990 at the Wooster Clinic, which became the Cleveland Clinic Wooster.

His father actually delayed his retirement date so he could work in an operating room with Robert.

“The Cebuls are one of those cornerstone families in the healthcare of our community,” Boyes said. “The Cebul name is just part of local healthcare.”

Although Cebul’s clinic affiliations changed several times over the years — from Wooster Clinic, to the Cleveland Clinic, to Bloomington Medical Services — due to the business side of his practice, his desire to provide great community healthcare remained constant.

“You can be the most wonderful physician on the Earth, yet if you do not have the entire support system around you, you’re nothing,” Cebul said. “I’ve been blessed with an operating room and a hospital that understood my vision. If someone was sick, I was able to get them on the schedule and take care of them. The entire O.R. team, inpatient nurses, ancillary and office staff all helped work toward that goal.

“Along the way the Wooster Hospital continued to keep pace with technology, which is great for a community hospital. That made it all possible to continue the high-quality care that I think I was able to offer.”

It’s extremely challenging to be a general surgeon, but it’s been a calling Cebul never regretted. Cebul’s procedures ranged from diagnostic and therapeutic breast surgeries to gallbladder, colon and vascular surgeries, both open and minimally invasive.

“(General surgery) was the perfect choice,” Cebul said. “It has got to be one of the hardest specialties out there because I did a huge variety of procedures, but I found that rewarding. No two days were the same.

“I’ve often referred to general surgeons as the Marines of the (operating room). When the going gets tough, who do they call to come to the rescue? The general surgeon because we have such a broad range of knowledge and we can handle X, Y and Z, and that’s not meant to disrespect other specialties.”

Cebul brought vascular surgery to Wooster Hospital and was one of the first doctors to use the cath lab back in 2001. He performed the first aortic stent graft there.

Bernadette was an operating room nurse and helped raise the couple’s two sons, who are now grown. Daniel Cebul attends MIT in the Ph.D. program for political science, and Matthew Cebul, Ph.D., also was a political science major attending Haverford in Pennsylvania and Yale before going on to work for the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.

Because Cebul was so focused on his career over the years, he admits he doesn’t have a lot of hobbies. However, he doesn’t plan to slow down in retirement. He’s planning to volunteer at the Viola Startzman Clinic, continue to swim and hike, work on growing apple trees on his property, and travel with Bernadette.

“I’m trying to figure out how to improve my crop by growing apple trees,” Cebul said. “Most importantly, my wife has really put up with 34 years of always being on the medical schedule, and I want to put her first. We plan to do some traveling and have more time together.”