05/22/2026
20 years ago today we lost this OG. I was a lucky daughter to have him as a role model, teaching me daily by example all of his sacred values. He loved and took care of his family, friends and treated his thousands of patients with care, compassion and dignity. Part of the joy I experience living in Boston is meeting people who recognize my name and relish telling me that my father saved their lives because of the life saving surgery he had performed on them. One of the best illustrations of that was when Ben and I went to select our wedding bands at a Boston jeweler and when our salesman learned my last name and asked me if I was related to the doctor, he burst into tears and told me that he was undergoing chemotherapy after having had life-saving surgery done by my father, as had his mother and his father. “I would not be here today helping you fit your wedding bands had it not been for your father, saving my life.” That moment will be with me forever and every time I slip on that wedding band, I think of the man my father touched. Dad valued education and demonstrating integrity, hard work and the pursuit of one’s passions. He loved and was proud of being Jewish and raised his voice to sing and lead services. He died of a spinal cord injury way too young, at the age of 72. As the rabbi said at his funeral looking at me and my boys, my siblings and their children, “You are your father’s living legacy”—and it is us who embody and embrace the values that meant so much to him. Today we salute Papa Dickie with his favorite apple pie and vanilla ice cream, on what was one of his favorite holiday weekends. ❤️❤️
