Biographical Information

If you’ve read this far, you’d presumably like to know a bit or two about me, so here goes.

I’ve practiced pediatrics in Southern California since 1966, briefly in Beverly Hills and since December of that year in Van Nuys. Four years later I became one of the first doctors in the new medical tower at 15243 Vanowen Street, just in time for the Sylmar earthquake. I’ve worked mainly at Valley Presbyterian Hospital, where I am in my tenth term as the chairman of the Pediatric Department and had served as Chief of Staff in 1979. I also see babies at the Tarzana Medical Center. I was Director of Medical Education at Valley Presbyterian from 1999 to 2003. In March 1999, the economic realities of practice did something the Sylmar and Northridge earthquakes couldn’t do; namely, rousted me out of my building and into an expense-sharing arrangement with my long-time colleague, Larry Menzer, M.D., at 15211 Vanowen St., Suite 310. The move was only about 100 yards long but monumental psychologically; however, it worked out well for over five years, helped by our mututal Cornell background and love of the Yankees!

As of July 1, 2004, I have returned to solo practice in Suite 102 of the same building, where my creative wife Cynthia has put together a museum-quality office which is colorful and welcoming.

I grew up in New York, arriving two days before my great grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary as the first of a new generation in a very large extended family which later included several doctors. I announced my intention to become a doctor at age three, and rarely wavered from it. At Cornell where I did my pre-med, I wrote for the college newspaper, whose staff at that time produced a half-dozen nationally-known writers, but I chose to stick with medicine.

I was truly blessed in my training, spending every year of it in outstanding places. The University of Chicago granted me the M.D. degree in June 1960, followed by a year of internship at the Philadelphia General Hospital. Moreover, my first child, Steve, was born during my senior year in Chicago, and Dan came along (five weeks early) in the City of Brotherly Love, a concept that the two of them stretched to the limit often as we moved about the country. I was chosen for the elite Epidemic Intelligence Service next, and our little family spent a lovely, non-air-conditioned summer in Atlanta, followed by two years in Berkeley, California, where I chased down epidemics while Steve and Dan chased each other. Even though I had dreamed of settling in California since childhood, I felt that the best possible pediatric training I could get was worth uprooting the family for again, so in 1963 we headed back east and I began two years’ residency at the venerable Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Fortunately my folks bought an adorable house in the New Jersey suburbs for us to occupy during those years when I was working 90-hour weeks (but hey! I got $400 a month and free meals). Daughter Cindy was born at Columbia’s famous Harkness Pavilion. The day after her first birthday, we loaded up our station wagon and camped our way westward to California, this time the sunny southern part, where I completed my training with a year fellowship in infectious diseases at L.A.County/USC Medical Center. When Laurence arrived in 1968 at Valley Presbyterian Hospital, we could make the unusual claim that our children had been born in each of the four largest cities in the United States! (Houston and Detroit were 5th and 6th - it was time to stop!) My greatest blessings, and much of what I have learned have come from the children in my life, especially my own!

These days I live in a wonderful home in Tarzana. I have a new life partner, Cynthia, who is not only my office manager and best friend, but as of September 1, 2002 is also my wife. My life has also been enriched by the addition of five grandchildren whose pictures are rather prominently displayed in the office. Max (born August 6, 1991), Sam (born April 10, 1994), for whom I thank Steve and my wonderful daughter-in-law, Doreen, who managed to be a vice-president at Gap and a great wife and mother, too, until she retired to attend graduate school in is now practicing as a therapy intern working towards her MFT license. Alexandra (born January 12, 1997), Sarah (born November 2, 1999) and Ian (born August 11, 2003) were born to Dan (my son the lawyer) and his wife Kimberly in faraway Virginia (they moved to Rochester, New York for a bit, but now they’re back in Virginia). Daughter Cynthia earned her degree in Advertising at Art Center College of Design. She wrote commercials, print ads, and radio spots for many years at agencies such as Saatchi & Saatchi, J. Walter Thompson, Grey and Yahoo!. Now she lives in San Carlos and is the executive creative director for Gyro International in San Francisco. Son Laurence moved to Northern California to share a lovely townhouse in Mountain View with his "S.O." Katie, and they got married on July 25, 2003. We all welcomed Laurence and Katie’s daughter Anna into the world on September 29th, 2005. As you can tell, all my children continue to make me very proud.

In younger days I was an avid pilot and was able to treat family and friends to the joys of Alaska, Mexico, Idaho, and most other parts of the beautiful country we live in. Another great interest was skiing. I have thousands of slides and great memories of those times. I jog regularly, read avidly, and have become a crossword puzzle expert. I have arrived at that wonderful time in life when the children start to take care of their poor old dysfunctional but well-meaning parents. Steve and Doreen treated me to a South African safari in the summer of 1999! That’s what I call "quality time" with the grandchildren.