One Man's Century with Pen, Brush, Fiddle and Scalpel

About the Book

This account of a 10-decade journey through life — Confessions of a Near-Centenarian with Five Lives — is unique in that it is actually a story of an exceptional man's five lives and three professions — plus a number of anecdotal highlights ranging from how his parents recognized and responded to the outlandish needs of a gifted child to how he almost killed Jascha Heifetz.

The author's five lives were a personal life, a life in art, a life in music, a life in clinical surgery and surgical research, including a stint as a front-line surgeon in World War II — during which the Heifetz incident occurred — and a post-surgical life as a bioengineer. His three professions were commercial art, general/vascular surgery with research, and capped off by bioengineering, specializing in surgical technology and facilities.

Crafted from collected notes, writings, drawings, paintings, anecdotes and memories, the incidents that survived formed a framework for sparkling insights into why and how achievement can be reached in so many diverse activities. What the author had collected was more than another tedious autobiography — a realization of the reasons behind his multiple achievements. He describes what drove him — on a conscious or subconscious level — to achieve in diverse undertakings.

This book provides far more than an engaging recollection of a truly wonderful existence. The book dramatically but candidly describes a life of explorations rather than a life's work.

Also, contrary to what you may expect from the pen of a physician, the author does not prescribe, preach, nor hand out platitudinous advice on how to lead your own life, nor how to stay young forever — as if one size can fit all. Instead, he presents his century of life as his own exploratory and learning journey.

If you find any parallels between your own life's journey perhaps his disclosures can help pave the road through yours.

An extraordinary story of an extraordinary life.

About the Author

A man blessed with diverse talents, and inexhaustible good humor, the author experienced the 20th century from many vantage points. At age 7 he disassembled an alarm clock and at age 11 built a crystal radio receiving set on a bread board. In adult life he is a pioneer vascular surgeon, inventor of surgical instruments, world-recognized researcher in surgical subjects, and designer of operating rooms… and in his retirement years became a consultant to hospitals on surgical facilities and systems.

As an honor scholarship student in college and medical school he blended his undergraduate and medical studies with highly unusual summers sketching patrons of the 1933-34 Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago and contributing slice-of-life cartoons to the Chicago newspapers. A superb violinist, he has played in world-class venues and inspired two wonderful concert musicians in his own home, his daughters, pianist Dionne and cellist Laurien. He enjoyed a rewarding primary career as an internationally recognized surgeon and investigator making important contributions in a number of fields including the physiology of blood flow and operating-room technology. Most recently, at an age when many retire, he used his insights into bioengineering to anchor a successful consulting firm specializing in the design of operational systems of operating rooms.

Today, in his mid-nineties he remains as open to fresh experiences, new ideas and new friendships as he was as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago. As he describes his journey through life he is candid but kind, realistic but hopeful. In short, he radiates affection for life and all it entails.