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University's Furstenberg Dies At 79

University's Furstenberg Dies At 79 image
Parent Issue
Day
23
Month
October
Year
1969
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
Obituary
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Dr. Albert C. Furstenberg, dean emeritus of the University Medical School, died this morning at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital after a lengthy illness. He was 79. During 25 years as dean (1935-1959), Dr. I I tenberg guided a renaissance of the University I I ical Center. It developed into one of the foremost I I U.S. facilities for research medicine while the I Medical School became the largest in the country. This rapid growth was the tangible evidence I of Dr. Furstenberg's lifelong love affair with the I profession of medicine. "Medicine is a better way of life than any I other if a person is willing to devote his life to I it," he told his students. He began his own career, perhaps, as an I year-old boy driving the buggy of Saginaw I cian Tom M. Williamson on house calis. Medical I education and subsequent practice at the I sity made him one of the leading specialists of I flictions of the ears, nose and throat. The husky, jovial doctor had been known as I "Octy" ever since he played football with the I championship Saginaw High School team just after I the turn of the century. Gifted surgeon, skillful administrator, and I sonal friend of many of his students, Dr. I berg continued after retirement at age 69 to take I care of his private practice and to inspire a new I generation of medical students. "It is," he said, "really quite important that I the physician maintain his relationship with the I patiënt. Patients are going to be with us for all I time to come, I think, and we have got to continue I to do our very best to practice medicine in al I reputable manner, and with all the ability that we I I can possible muster." Said a colleague: "No matter how busy Dr. 1 I Furstenberg was, his patients came away with the I I idea that he was interested only in them. He was I I that kind of person." One such patiënt was Robert Hecker of ■ I field, whose, life Dr. Furstenberg saved through ■ I delicate surgery. Last June, Hecker set up a 1 I arship fund in his name for U-M and Wayne State University students specializing in otolaryngology (ear, nose, and throat ailments). Of his continued interest in teaching. Dr. Furs-M Ltenberg said: "I do it because I like it. I like to teach a course in otolaryngology bëcausê tnësê I young men are very provocative fellows. They are I courteous, ambitious, and stiroulating. They 1 I come capable doctors and I'm proud to have had I a hand in it. I enjoy their conversation and 1 ing their efforts, and I learn from being among I them . . . I've stayed with it so I wouldn't become I antiquated." Êach year he would treat the senior medical I I students and their parents to a party at his H I pense. ■ As a researcher, Dr. Furstenberg made major ■ I contributions in the understanding of the fascial ■ I planes of the neck and of neurology of the ear, I I nose and larynx, in addition to investigations of I Meniere's disease, osteomyelitis of the skull, and I conductive deaitoess. His versatility as an administrator was in eviI dence during World War II, when he speeded up I the program within the Michigan Medical School I to provide an extra graduating class of sorely I needed physicians. During this period he chaired I the National Research Council's subcommittee on I I otolaryngology. He initiated efforts to associate I I Henry Ford Hospital with the University as a I I uate training center, long before the plan became I I reality earlyin 1969. His friendship with philanthropists Sebastian I I Kresge and Charles Stewart Mott was instrumental I in establishing the Kresge Research Building, I I Kresge Hearing Research Institute, and the I I tute of Industrial Health, which have contributed I I immeasurably to medical research. Early in his career, Dr. Furstenberg was a I I horseback physician and surgeon as well as teacher. I I One night he had to perform a tracheotomy on a I I boy with diphtheria in an Ypsilanti home. The I I boy's father, holding the kerosene lantern, fainted I I to the floor as soon as the windpipe had been I I opened. Dr. Furstenberg got the light going again, I I ished the operation, began the medical treatment I I which wouW soon cure the boy- and carne down I I with diphtheria himself. He spent several weeks I I as a patiënt in U-M's old contagious disease I I pital. Later he was one of the doctors in the I I pital treating Elizabeth Nancy Maloy of Jackson, I I who also had diphtheria. He helped cure her and, I I in 1922, he married her. She survives, along with a son and two I I ters: William L. Furstenberg, Mrs. John Owens, I I and Dr. Nancy Furstenberg, an assistant professor I I of internal medicine and consulting physician at I ■ the U-M Health Service. Dr. Furstenberg was born in Saginaw May 27, I I 1890. He received a bachelor of science degree in I 1 1913 and a medical degree in 1915, both at U-M. I I After graduation from the Medical School, he II I terned at University Hospital and was appointed I ■ instructor in otolaryngology in 1918. He became I I chairman of the department of otolaryngology in I 1 1932 and was named dean of the Medical School I ■ in 1935. During World War I he served as first 1 ■ ant in the Medical Reserve Corps. During World II, I I in addition to the National Research Council 1 I committee chairmanship, he was an honorary I I member of the Army Medical Library. In 1948 he I I was appointed civilian consultant to the U. S. Army I ■ Surgeon General. Among many professional honors, he became I I president of the American Laryngological, I I logical, and Otological Society, the American I I emy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, the I I American Otological Society, and the Association I I of American Medical Colleges. He received the I I Roaldes Awards of the American Laryngological I I Association for achievement and accomplishment I I in his field, and also received the Association's I I James E. Newcomb Award for outstanding I ■I tributions to otolaryngology as clinician, teacher, I I lecturer, and administrator. Cremation has taken place. Private services I I for the family will be held at a later date. I Iments are in charge of the Muehlig Chapell