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November 5, 2004/Cheshvan 21 5765, Vol. 57, No. 10
Doctor operates on motivation, little sleep
MICHAEL MIKLOFSKY
Staff Writer
If you ask Dr. Ronald Yunis how he survives workdays that often run 18 hours, he might tell you his life is pretty sweet.
On a typical Monday, Yunis begins his day at 5:30 a.m. Forty-five minutes later, the obstetrician is in scrubs and visiting patients at the hospital. He follows up his visits by discharging other patients that are ready to go home. At 8 a.m., he arrives at his office and sees patients until noon.
Then it is time for him to switch hats.
Yunis and his wife, Kelly Edwards, are the proprietors of a Ben & Jerry's development agreement in the Valley. They signed the agreement in September 2003 to open five of the brand-named ice cream shops in five years; Yunis handles the business's catering.
He spends the next hour-and-a-half on the phone talking with caterers, venues and event organizers to promote the product which, Yunis says, has helped the couple tack on another 10 pounds since they opened their first store in Phoenix in June.
A second location is scheduled to open Nov. 19 at 9301 E. Shea Blvd., Scottsdale, and a third will open in December or January at 20165 N. 67th Ave., Glendale.
After Yunis finishes his phone calls, he sees patients from 1:30-6 p.m.
On Mondays and Wednesdays, the good doctor may induce up to three or four women a night.
On Tuesdays and Fridays, he spends part of his day in business meetings. Yunis owns a nine-unit apartment complex in Sunnyslope, Calif., and is otherwise invested in commercial real estate.
By 7:45 p.m., Yunis has already been home to change into his Ben & Jerry's clothes and has arrived at the store to scoop ice cream until the store closes.
Sometimes, Yunis and Edwards don't get home for dinner until 11 p.m., but it's all in keeping with his personality to stay busy all the time. Even Yunis admits that he can't sit still and won't take vacations that last more than four days.
When the couple isn't working to build their business and Yunis isn't tending to his patients, they are working together to help Edwards in her conversion class through Temple Chai.
They have been celebrating holidays together for roughly eight years and Yunis says he considers the conversion process a mere formality, but it's also a way he is able to reconnect with his own Jewish upbringing.
"One of the things about all the holidays is a recurring theme: to struggle," he says. "Things don't come easy, everything is a struggle to some degree, but that there's a reward and joy from the struggle itself."
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