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Alvin Goldfarb, MD.
FROM THE BEGINNING
Alvin Goldfarb died on 1 November 2008 at the age of 85. Alvin was the past Executive Director and one of the founding fathers of the North American Society of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology.
His role in the development of the society is more than an historical one. In the mid 1970s the International Society of Pediatric and Adolescent was well established. However, the principal USA participants, lacking financial aid had never held an International meeting in the United States. It was Alvin Goldfarb who gambled and put up the collateral to fund the first stateside meeting. It took place at the Hilton hotel in Washington, D.C. Speakers were invited from all over the world including the late Sam Yen from San Diego, the late Anna McLaren from Great Britain, and the Jones from Norfolk. Fortunately, the meeting was a resounding success. The success of this meeting launched the development of the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology in the USA. If that Washington meeting had failed, no financial bailout would have saved the day and preserved the future.
Except for those involved in those early years, few members of the society are aware of Alvin Goldfarb's parentage. Alvin Goldfarb was a pupil of Doctors Abraham Rakoff, Karl Paschkis, and Joseph Rupp at Jefferson Medical College during the 1950s. His mentors were inspirational scientists who had a remarkable breadth of interest in endocrinology, and excitement for things biological. Alvin is a product of these mentors and that remarkable era.
Given this impressive lineage, it is not surprising that Alvin Goldfarb became one of a unique group of people who came together in the late 1960s and early 1970s to give birth to Clinical Reproductive Endocrinology, as we know it today. Doctor Goldfarb along with Edward Tyler of Los Angeles, Robert Kistner of Boston, and Robert Greenblatt in Georgia spearheaded the birth and development of this important subspecialty. In certain ways, this small group of clinical scientists transformed what was at that time a largely descriptive and marginal science into a major tool for the study of human reproduction. The role of Alvin Goldfarb and people like him in setting the pace for scientific change in the reproductive sciences is still under-appreciated. Doctor Alvin Goldfarb helped to create an environment for young people that has served the society well and produced many outstanding scientific innovators in Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology.
In a word, Alvin Goldfarb was a "galvanizer" who turned people on to the science of reproductive endocrinology. The type of unique chemistry and interaction that he inspired cannot be duplicated in any other medium or resume. Alvin Goldfarb serves to illustrate what can be accomplished by scientific rogues of unusual daring and originality who lead the way, inspire us, and make us proud to be associated with the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology.
On a personal level, Alvin and his wife Arlyne were deeply interested in music and the fine arts. The latter were part of the reason that Alvin was tethered to Philadelphia. He was an eloquent speaker and his lectures legendary. We will miss his personality. The mellow and resonant tone of his voice still resounds in my ear. It has been a privilege to have been his friend and colleague. I hesitate to think where the society would be today without him.
Paul G. McDonough, M.D.
Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics and Physiology
Medical College of Georgia
Augusta, Georgia 30912
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