| IN MEMORIAM - PAUL WOOLF, MD - PHYSICIAN, COLLEAGUE, FRIEND |
Paul Woolf, MD |
Excerpted from the eulogy delivered by Michael Gewitz, MD
Nov 5, 2010
We deeply mourn the passing of our esteemed colleague and dear friend, Paul Woolf, MD.
Paul was universally respected for his intellect, enjoyed for his wit, and admired for his honesty and compassion.
Paul had a seemingly limitless capacity for understanding people — as mentors, as students, as colleagues, as patients, and as friends — and no matter the environment, this innate talent showed through.
Paul made people, especially those seeking his advice or counsel, feel at ease and secure no matter the issue they were bringing to him to get the help they needed.
For 26 years, starting with the day he responded to my request to join our fledgling program in 1984 and until his passing the other day, Paul has been the ‘enabler' — his steady hand, wisdom and patience enabled the rest of us to venture out, to recruit, to raise money, secure grants, and do the other things that had to be done to build a first-class children's healthcare program for our region. |
Paul's presence and persistence, his leadership and skill were the bedrocks upon which we all depended to build everything else.
Paul typified the kind of doctor we want all our new colleagues and trainees to be — know your medicine, understand your patients' needs and, first and foremost, be a good person and make that principle your driving force. He became the mentor's mentor, and the teaching and guidance of young physicians was his true calling.
Yes, Paul graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis; yes, he won the Altman Pediatric Award for Excellence in medical school at Columbia ; and, yes, he won countless awards and honors for teaching excellence at NY Medical College. But at the heart of all that, it was his heart and his love that made anyone know at once that he was on your side and he would be there to help. Literally hundreds of doctors all over the US and, in fact, all over the world, saw Paul as their role model. What a wonderful legacy. Every patient and family they deal with, the subsequent generations of doctors they themselves train, all in some measure will be impacted by their experience with Paul. And that does not include his equally important additional legacy — the thousands of children who are today leading healthy lives because of the opportunity they had to be under his gentle care. Paul lives on through both the lives of his students and of his patients.
All of us have been enriched by having known him, worked with him, and learned from him and his inspiration will continue to guide us in the years ahead.
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