Obituary: Donald A. Feinfeld, M.D. (1944-2008)

He will be sorely missed. After a brief bout with pancreatic cancer Donald A. Feinfeld, M.D. died on October 24^th, 2008 leaving behind his wife (Dee) and son (Michael). Don joined the Beth Israel Medical Center, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension in December, 2004, as Fellowship Program Director, with his academic appointment as Professor of Clinical Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Prior to his appointment at Beth Israel he had most recently been Chair of Medicine at Nassau University Medical Center as well as holding the Chief of the Renal Division position at that institution. A graduate of the University of Rochester (B.A. Mathematics) and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (1969), he subsequently trained in Nephrology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Throughout his distinguished career he had held academic positions at several New York Medical Centers (Columbia, Einstein, New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Stony Brook). He had hospital appointments at Long Island College Hospital, Harlem Hospital, Bronx Municipal Hospital Center, Weiler Hospital and Nassau County Medical Center. He was past President of the New York Society of Nephrology

Don was truly a renaissance man: he published 3 volumes of poetry, as well as songs and music. He was active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, and a prison doctor for 2 years. He was an entertaining raconteur enjoying the written and spoken word, never short of an anecdote, nor of searching for cartoons to illustrate and define his teaching. Above all he had the gift of being an able, accurate, entertaining teacher, with the ability to teach at any level from undergraduate to postgraduate, locally or nationally. In addition to his volumes of poetry, his poems were a regular feature in the pages of The Annals of Internal Medicine.

He was a consultant to the New York Poison Control Center and recognized as a clinical toxicologist for his research in this area. He was also an expert in all aspects of Nephrology and Hypertension, holding a rare Certificate as an expert in Hypertension by the American Society of Hypertension. In addition he was elected Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology by his peers.

His impact at Beth Israel Medical Center was enormous. He was revered as a physician, teacher and researcher. He published over 100 papers, many during his tenure at Beth Israel, trained over 100 fellows in nephrology and several thousand general internal medicine trainees over his career. He is missed as a friend and colleague by the faculty, fellows and students of the Nephrology Division and the Department of Medicine.

From Rodin’s Eye’s (Fithian Press, DA Feinfeld, 2004)

What Matters:

Matter, said Einstein, is the same

as energy; force isn't solid

but has its moment, can mass

when concentrated, then

matters very much.

We ask

what's the matter, seeking concern

not equations, and desire

answers that deserve our time.

Time, though, just cuts a distance

along with energy--or matter-slides

till it collides with some burst

of greater gravity, in a moment veers

to another axis and casts no light

down time's immaterial alley.

If light is struck it will wave sheets of energy across the gulf

between great matters and less,

and when at last the torch blows out,

does anything matter?

James F. Winchester, M.D., FRCP (Glasgow), FACP