Bernstein-Paul, of Boca Raton FL, and Hull MA, passed away on April 6, 2012. Beloved husband of Brenda (Goldstein) Bernstein. Devoted father of Hope Bernstein and her fiancé Sam Mirkin and Joy and her husband Todd Cohen. Dear grandfather of Phoebe and Jocelyn Cohen. Loving brother of Mendel and his wife Malka Bernstein. Paul will be missed by many loving nieces, nephews, and friends. Services at Temple Beth Am, 871 North Main St. Randolph, on Monday, April 9, 2012 at 12 noon. Following interment at Sharon Memorial Park, Shiva will be held at Brenda Bernstein’s residence until 8 pm, and will continue Tuesday and Wednesday 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations in Paul’s memory may be made to the Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Boston Foundation, 333 Nahanton St., Newton, MA 02459 or the National Multiple Sclerosis Society 733 Third Ave. 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10017, www.nationalmssociety.org/donate.
Obituaries
Sylvia Lisansky
Sylvia Cohen Lisansky,on April 6, 2012, , a graduate of Goucher College and the University of Maryland School of Social Work, beloved wife of the late Dr. Ephraim T. Lisansky; devoted mother of Deborah Lisansky Beck (Dr. Alan Dodge Beck) of Boston, MA, and Dr. Jonathan (Donna) Lisansky of Alberquerque, NM; loving sister of the late Samuel and Morris Cohen, Bess Caplan, and Edith Levin; cherished grandmother of Julie Beck (Leo Stern), Emily Dodge Beck, and Jesse Lisansky; adored great grandmother of Emmanuel Beck Stern and Veronica Marlena Beck Stern; loving cousin of Edith Dorenfeld.Remembrances in her memory may be sent to the University of Maryland School of Social Work, University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation, Inc., Office of Gift Administration, 620 W. Lexington Street, 2nd Floor, Baltimore, MD 21201
Dr. Harry Friedman
Dr. Harry Samuel Friedman, age 96, on April 5, 2012. Predeceased by wives Gertrude Rotenberg Friedman and Harriett Friend Fingerman Friedman; brothers Samuel (Lillian), Dr. Gerald (Hannah), Dr. Isadore (Florence); sisters Sophie (Sol) Yarosh, Bertha (Rabbi David) Aronson, and Betty (Harry) Sweet. Survived by children: Sharon (Dr. Donald) Gordon of Broomall, PA, Dr. Rohn Friedman (Dr. Barbara Byse) of Newton, MA, and Dr. Jeffrey (Laura) Friedman of Newton, MA. Also, stepchildren: Orlene Fingerman of Marshfield, MA, Joel (Sheila) Fingerman of Oak Park, IL, Sally Fingerman of Golden Valley, and Raleigh (Bill) Wolpert of Minnetonka. Grandchildren: Jessica Gordon of Washington, DC, Jennifer Gordon of Los Angeles, Gabrielle Friedman of Chicago, and Daniel Friedman of Oberlin, Ohio; and many loving nieces and nephews. Born in Minneapolis on September 13, 1915 to Rabbi Samuel and Mary Friedman. A skilled athlete, he played on baseball and basketball teams for the Emanuel Cohen Center and later the Southside Neighborhood House. He was a forward on the North High basketball team that, in 1933, won City, Twin City, and Regional championships but lost the State finals to Red Wing by 3 points. He graduated from North High, where he served as Sports Editor of the weekly North High Polaris. From 1933-1939 he attended the University of Minnesota undergraduate and medical schools. He completed an internship in Minot, ND. When Hitler invaded Europe, he volunteered for the Army and served five years, reaching the rank of Captain. He was assigned to the 24th Evacuation Hospital during the war, participated in the Normandy Invasion on D-Day, and he was one of the first Americans to enter the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. After the war, he trained in ophthalmology in Boston and Cincinnati, and he completed a residency in Ophthalmology at Hine’s V.A. Hospital in Chicago in 1948. He then returned to Minneapolis where he established an ophthalmology practice in the Doctor’s Building. He was one of the founders of Mount Sinai Hospital, where he later served as President of the Medical Staff. He served as President of the Minneapolis Eye Society, President of the Minnesota Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, Vice-President of the Vision Foundation at the University of Minnesota, Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Minnesota, and sponsor of the Friedman Resident Research Award in Ophthalmology at the University of Minnesota. In 2002 he was awarded the George T. Tani, MD Humanitarian Award by the Minnesota Academy of Ophthalmology. He was a lifelong fan and season ticket holder for the University of Minnesota basketball and football teams. He was an enthusiastic golfer and a member of Oak Ridge Country Club, where he achieved a hole in one at age 85. . In lieu of flowers, donations in Dr. Friedman’s memory would be appreciated to either of the following memorial funds: 1) The Harry Friedman Residents Fund, in support of ophthalmology education at the University of Minnesota. Make checks payable to the “Minnesota Medical Foundation, Fund #4630” and mail to 200 Oak Street SE, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55455-2030. 2) Dr. Harry S. Friedman Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowment at the Jewish Community Foundation of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation, 13100 Wayzata Blvd., Suite 200, Minnetonka, MN 55305.
Abraham Danberg
DANBERG, ABRAHAM Abraham Danberg, 93, of 66 Sherman St., Cambridge, Ma. & formerly of New Haven, devoted husband of May (Asnes) Danberg, died at his home on Tues., April 3, 2012. Born in Stratford, Ct., Aug. 23, 1918, he was a son of the late Harry & Bessie (Mallay) Danberg. Beloved Father of Seymour Danberg of Cambridge, Ma. & Harry (Stephanie) Danberg of Portland, Or.. Dear Brother of the late Lena Epstein, Nathan & Victor Danberg. Cherished Grandfather of Nicole & Zach Danberg. Funeral Services at Beth Hamedrosh Cemetery, 3 Brockett Place, East Haven THURSDAY (TODAY) at 12:00 o’clock NOON. Memorial Contributions may be sent to Hospice of the Good Shepherd, 2042 Beacon St., Newton, Ma. 02468-143
Sally Ann Drachman
SALLY ANN DRACHMAN-. died peacefully at home in Auburndale, Mass. Formerly of Scarsdale and Mamaroneck, NY, she was born in New York City on December 15, 1920 to Solomon S. and Helen Goldsmith Rudolph. She was a graduate of the Fieldston School and Cornell University. She was the beloved wife of the late Dr. Stanley R. Drachman and the late Charles Brand; loving mother of Virginia of Newton, Mass., Susan of Saratoga Springs, NY, Josh, of Seattle, Wash., and Dori of Peterborough, NH; grandmother of Wendy and Andrew Van Raalte, and Abigail and Eliza Drachman-Jones. She was the sister of the late Alan G. Rudolph of Clinton Corners, NY, and niece of the late Reuben, Isaac, and Benjamin Goldsmith of Goldsmith Brothers Stationers, New York City. She was an avid reader, an adventurous traveler, and an eternal optimist. Contributions may be made in Sally’s memory to the Ethical Culture Fieldston School or WGBH Boston
Rhoda Eleanor Clarke
Rhoda E.Clarke, 92, of Waban and Chestnut Hill passed away this morning at 9:35 after an extended illness as a resident of Newbridge on the Charles (Hebrew Senior Life) in Dedham. A third-generation member of Congregation Mishkan Tefila, she was predeceased by her husband of 61 years, Joel L. Clarke. She is survived by her two children, Gerald & Patricia Clarke of Dover and Bobbi Clarke & Allen Michel of Weston, and by her six grandchildren, Paul & Tammy Clarke, Matthew Clarke, Joseph Clarke, Aaron Michel, Elizabeth Clarke, and Alexandra Michel. She also is survived by four great-grandchildren: Samuel, Zachary, Rachel, and Jacob. Rhoda was formerly a member of Blue Hill Country Club and Boca Woods (Boca Raton) Country Club.
Funeral 11:45 a.m. Friday April 6, 2012, Graveside at Sharon Memorial Park.
With the onset of the holiday of Pesach there will be no shiva.
Remembrances in Rhoda’s merit may be made to Newbridge on the Charles, 7000 Great Meadow Rd, Dedham, MA 02026 Attn Anne Thomas.
A memorial observance will be held at Newbridge on the Charles after the holiday of Passover, details to follow.
Myra Yager
Graveside services will be at United Hebrew cemetery, 122 Arthur Kill Rd., Staten Island NY, on Monday, April 9, 2012 at 1:30 pm.
Bernice G. Engelson
Engelson-Bernice (Itchkawitz), of Worcester, formerly of Hull and Lake Worth,FL, on April 3, 2012. Beloved wife of George Engelson. Devoted mother of Heather Grossack (Jerry) of Berlin, Eric Engelson (Janet) of Framingham, Jerrald Engelson (Angela) of Utah, David Engelson (Linda) of Reading. Dear grandmother of Ilyssa (Rick) DeMare, Emily (Joe) Lepore, Naomi Grossack and her fiancé Mark Roback, Alex and Rachel Engelson, Erin and Kara Engelson, and in Utah, Chad, Dean, Brittany, Joshua, Jason, Misty and Great-grandmother of Maxwell, Jacob, Abigail, Sofia, Jonah and Ruby. Loving sister of Johanna Greenstein and the late Charles Itchkawitz. Graveside services at Lindwood Memorial Park, 497 North Street, Randolph on Thursday, April 5 at 3 pm. Memorial observance at the home of Heather and Jerry Grossack on Thursday until 9 pm and Friday until Sundown. Remembrances may be made to Hadassah of New England, 200 Reservoir St., Suite 103, Needham, MA 02494.
Muriel Holtz
Mildred K. Lehman
Mildred Lehman, launched campaign to reduce medical errors
By Bryan Marquard
GLOBE STAFF
Tucked amid the precise language of someone schooled in the subtleties of health care policy is a sentence that showed Mildred Lehman had a personal relationship to her topic when in 2004 she wrote the forward to “The Patient Safety Handbook.’’
Just after mentioning that 98,000 people die accidentally each year due to medical errors in hospitals, she added a sobering aside: “This aggrieved mother sees in the grim national numbers the sweet young face of a beautiful and talented daughter who left behind two children suddenly bereft.’’
Her daughter Betsy Lehman, a health columnist for the Globe, died in 1994 after receiving an overdose of chemotherapy at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. With an equanimity that impressed all, Mrs. Lehman found ways great and small to contribute to the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction, launched nearly a decade after her daughter’s death.
Mrs. Lehman, who spent her youth in New England and returned after a career in writing and health care public affairs in Washington, D.C., died of complications of vascular dementia March 25 in Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in Roslindale. She was 93 and had moved to Brookline more than a dozen years ago.
“Instead of becoming bitter, she found a couple of paths that helped her, and she made contributions,’’ said her daughter Ann Katz of Brookline. “One was being willing to speak publicly about the importance of patient safety and reduction of medical error.’’
Through the Betsy Lehman Center and its awards recognizing efforts by hospitals and health agencies to increase patient safety, Mrs. Lehman helped shield families from the sadness she knew firsthand.
“She was someone who was able to channel the grief she felt about her daughter’s loss into a very productive effort to prevent other families from having to go through the same sort of tragedy,’’ said John Auerbach, the state’s public health commissioner. “Mrs. Lehman was insightful, gracious, and thoughtful about the ways that government could play an active role in terms of trying to improve quality of care.’’
At the Globe, Betsy Lehman had used her columns to untangle the complexities of health care for readers.
“One point about Mildred I always respected was that she didn’t want the center to be a memorial to Betsy’s death,’’ said Nancy Ridley, former executive director of the Betsy Lehman Center. “She wanted it to be a celebration of her life, of her professional work to educate consumers.’’
Born Mildred Kharfen in Cherry Valley, Pa., Mrs. Lehman was 2 when her mother died just as her father was engineering a move to run a New Hampshire factory that made manicure instruments.
Until he fully settled in New England, she was raised by her maternal grandmother, a warm relationship Mrs. Lehman reprised in reverse decades later when her daughter died.
While still a child, she moved to Keene, N.H., where she won academic awards, was captain of a championship basketball team, and graduated from high school at 16 in 1934.
She attended a college in Pittsburgh before graduating from Simmons College in Boston, where she majored in English.
After a foray into graduate work that included studying in Vermont with the poet Robert Frost at Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School, she worked at newspapers in New Jersey during World War II.
Through a cousin she met Milton Lehman, a war correspondent for the Stars and Stripes military newspaper.
“They connected very readily,’’ Katz said. “They had the same values and the same interests, and they were both writers and felt that was a wonderful way to live and work.’’
“It was a connection that lasted through the war because they both could write so beautifully about their thoughts and feelings,’’ she added. “Those letters, I think, substantially built their relationship.’’
They married in 1945 and became freelance writers for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post.
As they began having children, the Lehmans moved to the Washington, D.C., area. Both wrote speeches for government and elected officials, and she worked with him when he wrote “This High Man: The Life of Robert H. Goddard.’’
“ ‘My father is writing a book,’ I used to tell my friends proudly when I was a little girl,’’ Betsy Lehman wrote in the Globe in 1982, recalling those years. “Secretly I relished the fact that, while their fathers went to work in dark suits and shiny shoes, my father and mother padded downstairs every day in their sports clothes to ‘the office,’ to work on my father’s book.’’
A few years after finishing the book, Mr. Lehman died at 48 of a heart attack.
A widow at 47, Mrs. Lehman “put us all through school,’’ Katz said. “She worked extraordinarily hard, and mowed the lawn, and did the finances, and created a happy home environment, too.’’
Trading freelance writing for government work, Mrs. Lehman spent many years in the federal public affairs offices at the National Institute of Mental Health and the former Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration.
Mrs. Lehman had already begun spending as much of her free time as possible in the Boston area, where her daughters lived, before retiring in her mid-70s.
After Betsy died, Mrs. Lehman moved to the Coolidge Corner area of Brookline.
She taught memoir writing at a senior center and served on the community council of a mental health center, along with her work with the Betsy Lehman Center.
“She really felt her grief,’’ her daughter said, “but she was also able to find the energy to see herself as making a contribution to what she felt was a very important medical and social issue.’’
A service has been held for Mrs. Lehman, who in addition to her daughter, leaves a son, John of Middleton, Wis.; two sisters, Rosalind Alpert of Pittsburgh and Priscilla Ziv-El of Israel; a brother, Henry Kharfen of Newton; six grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
“She was an incredibly loving grandmother, but beyond that, she was an incredibly curious person,’’ said her granddaughter Amanda Katz, deputy editor of the Globe’s Ideas section. “She was an emotionally sophisticated person who thought a lot about her own feelings.’’
Mrs. Lehman, who “really saw herself right to the end as a writer and editor,’’ was at work on a memoir and had written nearly 400 pages, her granddaughter said.
“She was a tremendously reflective person,’’ Mrs. Lehman’s daughter said. “At the age of 90, she was still having insights about herself and facing things about herself and uncovering things in her emotional experience.
She was a freelance journalist and later worked for the federal government as a chief of public affairs at the National Institute of Mental Health and public affairs director for the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration. In more recent years, she became an outspoken advocate for patient safety. She was the beloved wife of the late Milton Lehman; mother of Ann Lehman Katz (Howard M. Katz), John M. Lehman (Priscilla Lehman), and the late Betsy Amanda Lehman (Robert Distel); sister of Rosalind K. Alpert, Priscilla Ziv-El, and Henry Kharfen; sister-in-law of Claire Orringer; grandmother of Amanda and Gregory Katz, Anika Swanson and Allison Lehman, and Emily and Laura Distel; and great-grandmother of Noah Katz. She was buried privately in Pittsburgh on March 28. Contributions may be made to Brookline Senior Center to support adult education, 93 Winchester St., Brookline, MA02446.