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Franklin H. Epstein
May 5, 1924 - November 5, 2008
Obituary taken from MDI Biological
Lab's website.
Dr. Franklin Harold Epstein, William Applebaum Professor of Medicine at
Harvard Medical School, died on November 5, 2008. He was 84 years old and
actively engaged in biomedical research, teaching, and clinical care until
just a few weeks ago.
Dr. Epstein went to Yale Medical School after receiving his bachelor's
degree summa cum laude from Brooklyn College, and graduated from Yale in
1947. He completed his internship and residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital,
where he came under the influence of Dr. John P. Peters, the leading
American physician/scientist of that time who explored the pathophysiology
of water and electrolytes in human disease. Eventually, Dr. Epstein
succeeded Dr. Peters as chief of the Division of Metabolism at Yale.
After a fellowship at Boston University Medical School in cardiology and
a period of time in the United States Army, first at Walter Reed Army
Hospital and then at the First General Dispensary at Fort Richardson,
Alaska, Dr. Epstein returned to Yale in the Division of Metabolism and the
Department of Medicine. Here he was successively promoted from the rank of
assistant professor to full professor, before coming to Boston in 1972 to
head the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory and the Harvard Medical Unit of
Boston City Hospital. One year later he joined the Beth Israel Hospital as
chairman and Physician-in-Chief of its Department of Medicine and has
remained at Beth Israel, now the Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center, ever
since.
Dr. Epstein has received many national and international honors for his
accomplishments in nephrology, including the John P. Peters Award of the
American Society of Nephrology in 1985, the David Hume Award of the National
Kidney Foundation in 2003, the Bywaters Award from the International Society
of Nephrology, and honorary degrees from Oxford University and the Medical
Academy of Gdansk, Poland. He was a summer investigator for 40 years at the
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDIBL) in Maine, where he studied
the comparative physiology of salt and water homeostasis in lower
vertebrates and trained at the bench many undergraduates, medical students
and fellows. He was a long standing Trustee and member of the Executive
Committee and served as President of MDIBL for 10 years. His research
encompassed the physiology of the renal medulla, disorders of urinary
concentrating ability, mechanisms of acute renal failure, disorders of
water, sodium, and potassium, the movement of ions across marine epithelia,
and medical complications of pregnancy including preeclampsia. He wrote and
spoke passionately about the physician's role in caring for the dying
patient. He is the author of approximately 400 papers, reviews, and
chapters, and he was a longstanding editor of Harrison's Principles of
Internal Medicine Textbook and of the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr.
Epstein trained a generation of medical students, residents, and fellows in
internal medicine and was known as an inspirational orator and teacher, and
as a caring bedside clinician: a leader by example.
Dr. Epstein was a rigorous thinker who had the highest expectations of
himself and others. Although on medical rounds he asked intimidating and
exacting questions, he was loved as a gentle and kind teacher. He was a
cheerful and enthusiastic man, who had an extraordinarily tuneful whistle
and a fine tenor voice. He sang constantly, and his voice will continue to
fill the hearts of his family and friends. He leaves his wife, Sherrie (Spivack),
his four children, Mark Epstein of New York, Ann Epstein of Brookline, Ma.,
Sara Epstein of Winchester, Ma., and Jonathan Epstein of Radnor, Pa., and
nine grandchildren.
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