Abraham Freedberg
Abraham Freedberg had a long and illustrious medical career at Harvard. He was outstanding in all the metrics of academic excellence. In addition to his research, teaching and patient care, Al (Freedberg preferred to be called Al or A. Stone) had a multidimensional fourth quality that set him apart. Colleagues and students who crossed the threshold of his open door always met a compassionate man with a sympathetic ear extending a helping hand and offering the gift of wise advice. His open-door policy was modeled after the habit of Herrman L. Blumgart (Beth Israel’s Director of Medical Research 1938, Chair of Medicine 1946-1964) whose office Al entered in 1938 and exited to start a continuous 65-year career at Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Abraham Freedberg was born in Salem, Massachusetts on May 30, 1908. That is where his Eastern European immigrant parents settled and were to raise six children...