Medicine, music, mitzvahs filled life of physician
IRA MORTON
Time Capsule
Albert Eckstein
Albert Eckstein was a man for all seasons. He was a prominent Phoenix physician, a devotee of classical music, spoke seven languages, was a Hebraic, Judaic and Talmudic scholar, and sang in synagogue and church choirs.
Eckstein began his medical career in Phoenix in late 1945 after serving with the U.S. Army as a medical officer during World War II. He attained the rank of lieutenant colonel.
From the day he set himself up in private practice, Eckstein believed it was a physician's responsibility to make house calls when needed, regardless of the time of day or night.
Especially sympathetic to the needs of the elderly and terminally ill, Eckstein became a key figure in the founding of Kivel Nursing Home in 1957 and Hospice of the Valley in 1978. He was the first medical director and lifelong board member of both institutions.
A board-certified internist, Eckstein also found time to serve as chief of staff of St. Luke's Hospital, on the Arizona Board of Medical Examiners and as chairman of the personnel committee and a member of the ethics committee of the Maricopa County Medical Society.
Eckstein received his medical diploma from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1936. Therein lies a tale.
Born in 1908 in the small Hungarian town of Jibou, which became part of Romania after the end of World War I, he immigrated to America with his family in 1926 to escape rising anti-Semitism.
The family settled in Pittsburgh, and a year later young Albert, already fluent in English, enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh as a pre-med student. He received his bachelor's degree in 1931 and sought admission to the university's medical school.
Although he had good grades and by then had become an American citizen, he was turned down because that school's Jewish quota was filled.
Knowing he would face the same situation at most other American universities, Eckstein decided to brush up on his German and apply to medical schools in Heidelberg and Frankfurt, Germany, and Vienna, Austria. Those cities were seats of culture and medical science and among the few places in Europe where Jews still thrived. Accepted everywhere he applied, he chose Frankfurt because that city had the largest Jewish population.
Eckstein began medical school in the fall of 1931. In 1933, Hitler came into power. Since the authorities at the university were aware of his Jewish heritage, Eckstein expected to be expelled. To his great relief, and because he was a U.S. citizen, the Nazis allowed him to continue his medical education and graduate with his class.
How ironic that he had come to America expecting to be free to pursue educational opportunities denied Jews in Eastern Europe but had to go to Nazi Germany to get his medical diploma.
Eckstein earned his own way through medical school. Blessed with a good voice, he helped defray expenses by singing in the choirs of a Reform Jewish temple on Friday nights and Saturday mornings and of an Episcopal church on Sunday mornings. He was the only Jew in both choirs.
Some 10 years later, Eckstein volunteered to chant Kol Nidre on erev Yom Kippur at Temple Beth Israel in Phoenix, when the temple had no cantor. The temple was then located on Culver Street, in the building that now houses the CutlerPlotkin Jewish Heritage Center.
In addition to his significant involvement with Kivel and Hospice of the Valley, Eckstein was an early supporter of The Phoenix Symphony and a dedicated board member of Temple Beth Israel, serving as chairman of the religious and museum committees. He was instrumental in the hiring of Rabbi Albert Plotkin, who served for 36 years and has been rabbi emeritus since 1991.
Eckstein was married 59 years to Liese Lotte Bendheim, whom he had met when he was a student in Frankfurt. The couple's two sons, Paul, an attorney, and John, a physician, married sisters, Flo and Diane Newmark, respectively. (Flo is the publisher of Jewish News).
Eckstein died in 1994 at age 86 and his wife eight years later at age 93.
Ira Morton is an author, feature writer and former syndicated columnist. He is a board member of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society, www.azjhs.org.
