LENOX HILL HOSPITAL
Marking Historic Merger
With Long Island
Jewish
Story and Photos by Tim Boxer
HREE years ago Lenox Hill Hospital was
celebrating its 150 years of medical service on the Upper East Side
of Manhattan. In November some 900 well-heeled Lenox Hill Hospital
supporters gathered at the Waldorf-Astoria to salute another
milestone — their merger with North Shore Long Island Jewish Health
Systems.
"We are looking forward to a
new day!" exclaimed William O. Hiltz, executive committee
chairman of Lenox Hill. "We are opening a medical school at Hofstra
University, and we will be hiring 250 people."
Michael J. Dowling,
president and CEO of North Shore LIJ, said this will be the first
medical school in New York State in 35 years. He expects to open in
summer 2011.
Richard Goldstein,
chairman of North Shore LIJ, welcomed the partnership
enthusiastically: "My athletic prowess has never been better since I
had my surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital."
"With Lenox Hill as our
Manhattan flagship, North Shore LIJ is now the largest integrated
health care provider in New York State and second largest in the
country."
The 652-bed Lenox Hill
Hospital was founded as the German Dispensary in 1857 by Abraham
Jacobi, often referred to as "the father of American
pediatrics," and Ernst Krackowizer.
The Jewish Encyclopedia
credits Jacobi with the invention of the laryngoscope and as one of
the first Americans to use the diphtheria anti-toxin. Krackowizer is
noted for being the first in Vienna to experiment on himself to get
the effect of chloroform.
It was "Play ball!" as
baseball rivalries were put aside in support of the hospital merger.
For among the Lenox Hill Hospital dinner co-chairs were Daniel M.
Crown, president of Crown Theaters and minority owner of the New
York Yankees, and benefit committee member Saul B. Katz,
president of the New York Mets and the Brooklyn Cyclones.
The Brooklyn-born Katz, head
of Sterling Equities, has proudly owned the Mets baseball team for
31 years.
Katz is a Brooklyn native.
His family, he related, came from Zlotchev, outside Lvov in Poland.
He said that when his mother was asked whether she came from Poland
or Russia, she’d say, "Depends on whether the Cossacks were coming
or going." The name of the town changed with the whims of history.
It was called Zloczow in Poland, Zolochev in Russia and Zolochiev in
Ukraine.
Jon Corzine, former
governor of New Jersey and now chairman/CEO of MF Global, was also
in a celebratory mood at the dinner. He introduced his fiancée,
Sharon Elghanayan. They married at the Corzine home in Hoboken
later that month.
The bride is a
psychotherapist. I asked if Corzine is a patient. She said no but he
said, "She keeps me out of trouble."