SUNY Downstate Medical Center - Iatros Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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LICHONIAN THE SENIOR CLASS PAYS TRIBUTE T0 ALFRED C. BECK An Inspiring Teacher A Splendid Physician And A Staunch Friend

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Speaking of Surgery, we cannot fail to pay the highest tribute to Dr Thomas M Brennan Dr Brennan IS an exception to the generality we remarked at the outset, namely that w1th the maturity and ripening of our wits and our judgment came a changing of views, of concepts, and of opinions about people and things The very first contact with Dr Brennan seems to strike a note of admiration, of interest, of respectful affection He at once wins the heart as well as the mind One finds that as time goes on, this opinion does not change or grow dim but with every contact grows stronger for Dr Brennan truly represents the aristocracy of the intellect, the quintessence of the gentleman scholar In describing the word gentleman, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, and lf finds Great usefulness here, It is a spontaneous fruit of talents and feelings of precisely that class who have most vigor, who take the lead in the world of this hour It is made of the spirit, more than of the talent of men, and 1S a com pound result in which every great force enters as an ingredient, namely virtue, Wlt, beauty wealth, and power And Oliver Wendell Holmes, in one of his beautiful sonners, seems to speak most eloquently for the consensus of student opinion about Dr Brennan Thoughtful in youth but not austere 1n age Calm but not cold, and cheerful though a sage, Too true to flatter, and too lxlfld to sneer, And only just, when seemingly severe, So gently blending courtesy and art That wisdom s lips seemed borrowing fr1endsh1p s heart We speak of lookmg back, of retrospecting, of reviewing the past Nowhere is one more rewarded in this than 1n ,ump1ng, in the mind s eye, the gap between the first and fourth years, a distance of three years chronolog1cally but for what it wrought in the evolution of a medical embryo, in terms of the evolution of man it spanned more than three generations Entering the race were a motley crew of uncouth creatures, each perhaps with a strange brand of char for somehow inadvertently and imperceptibly there creeps over the entering freshman the feeling that he has entered an 1nsr1tut1on and an organization where he IS asked to abide by everything, Question nothing and express no views The art1st1c eye could soon see this enter ing group as a collect1on of small soft particles, as motes of dust dancing quietly and harm lesslv in a sunbeam Anv professor who enjoys engaging a student in good natured and casual conversation while walkincf to and fiom the school, well knows that almost inspired reticencc. with wh1 h the student partitipatcs in the remarks and well recognizes that sort of expiratory grunt which IS meant as a little laugh of approval to almost everything which IS sa1d, whether it be funny serious, or of no consequence Any other response would probably be looked upon as a stroke of genius And ver in the space of those few short years, a Prognathus becomes an Apollo, and from the thorns there sprouts a rose Individuals evolve with personalities and radiance Thev did not evolve but rather emerge from under a cloak of 1nh1b1t1ons that made restraint appear like poverty of thought With the begmmnfr of the fourth vear and the splitting of the class 1nto small groups the pro ess of making these men of those mice had begun Fortunately for us, the faculty men who conduct the last mile, as it were, of this journey are men of the greatest brilliance, the most sterling characters and the highest eminence that the school can boast The p1ty IS that we do not meet them sooner CC011l772Zl66l7 011 Page 1785 Twenty and ' 9 , . ' . ' zz an ' ' u yr ' 7 1 . U Q ,I 7 - ' 7 U A 7 l 7 7 ' I - O ' I . . , . . . . , . acter, individualism, and ideals but, as a group, with not the slightest trace of anv of these W . - . . , A 4 . I . . , - 4 ' v A 7 . ' - 4 - . 5 - , 5 . . , . .C -I U g . 5 . . . v , ' . - , t A A v ' . . . H . . L4 I . 7 5 , -

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OF 1937 ALFRED C. BECK R. BECK was born in Toledo, Ohio, on july 16, 1885, the son of john and Mary Beck. He spent his childhood in Toledo and after being graduated from High School he entered the University of Michigan, where he received his M.D. Degree in 1910. At this time he entered on a stern resolve never to practice obstetrics and to leave this branch of medicine to others, who might like to get up in the middle of the night. Two years later, after completing his internship, he was licensed in Michigan and had already decided that, much as he would have preferred a quiet practice with regular hours, obstetrics was the field in which he would pass his life and practice his art . In 1916 he married Rhea B. Bennett of Conneaut, Ohio, and a short time later came East and settled in Brooklyn, aligning himself with the then rising star of Dr. John O. Polak. His rise here was rapid and after a few years he became head of the Long Island College Outdoor Clinic, a position second in rank only to that of the Professor . I-Ie remained in this post until Dr. Polak's death, in 1930, and succeeded him to the Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Beck is very well known and widely appreciated for his ability to teach obstetrics. To those of us who have sat under him, and collected our just share of zeros, he rates as the epitome of tutorial ability, the man who could make any subject clear and any situation vivid. His graduates have gone out into practice with a full appreciation of the values and problems of delivery and years afterward, his illustrations remain as practical and vivid as if they had been made but yesterday. Of late Dr. Beck has been growing alarmed by the unhealthy effect the economic situa- tion has had on medical practice and, never a one to sit back and let things take their course, except in the normal labor, he has tried to get to the root of the problem by offering his counsel to those of us who are just starting out. He has aided and advised us in the securing of intern- ships, for in the interne years are our real careers molded. With this in view, he has been working on a plan whereby the school will place men in interne positions and supervise their training and will thus be able to vouch for and sponsor its own men when they enter into practice. Our appreciation for Dr. Beck, as a teacher, as a doctor and as a man, knows no bounds. We wish him good health and many more years of active and full practice. Twenty-tlaree