A Life Of Mitzvot
Colleagues and loved ones flock to honor and comfort doctor with cancer.
RONELLE GRIER
Special to the Jewish News
A
fter a career of healing kids
with kidney disease, it was
time for some well-earned
payback.
On March 21, more than 60 of Dr.
Alan Gruskin's colleagues, friends and
family members converged from
around the country on his West
Bloomfield home to honor the
esteemed physician with terminal pan-
creatic cancer.
Dr. Gruskin, 65, had been chosen
this year to receive the prestigious
Founder's Award of the American
Society of Pediatric Nephrology
(ASPN) for his extraordinary work in
the field of childhood kidney disease.
But after being diagnosed with cancer
last November, it became clear that he
would be unable to attend the presen-
tation scheduled for Seattle.
To ensure that the guest of honor
would not miss his moment of glory,
the ASPN decided to present the
award to Dr. Gruskin at his home.
"Alan Gruskin is kind, he is gener-
ous, he is supportive, he is loving, he
is a friend, he is a teacher, he is a col-
league, he is a leader, he is a gatherer
and a family man — an individual
who in every way embodies the intent
and substance of the Hippocratic
Oath," said longtime friend, teacher
and mentor Dr. Ira Greifer of New
York City as he presented Dr. Gruskin
with the award.
Responded Dr. Gruskin in his
acceptance speech, "Indeed, the doing
or performing ofmitzvahs is for me the
essence of life. It is the emotional fuel
that has been the basis of my relation-
ship with my fellow human beings."
At the same gathering, Dr. Gruskin
became the first person to receive the
Career Achievement Award from the
International Society of Hypertension,
a field in which he was also known for
his superior work and dedication.
Dialysis Research
Born in Springfield, Mass., in 1937,
Dr. Gruskin received a bachelor of sci-
ence degree from the University of
Massachusetts, and his M.D. from the
University of Vermont.
Before coming to Detroit, he served
on the staff of several hospitals in the
East, where his research on dialysis
helped improve the process to provide
better care for children with kidney
failure.
As a teacher, physician and
researcher, Dr. Gruskin published
more than 150 papers, served on the
boards of many organizations, and was
a frequently requested speaker and vis-
iting professor throughout the world.
In Detroit, he was appointed profes-
sor and chairman of the Department
charity benefits and private parties. In
January, he produced a CD called Stay
Tuned, which includes both classical
and popular piano selections.
A Special Man
"It was Dr. Gruskin's Jewish values
that influenced his life, and he recog-
nized that," said Rabbi Harold Loss of
Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, the
Gruskins' synagogue.
"I was thrilled to hear that a group
of people came from all over the coun-
try to honor him."
Since the beginning of
his illness, Dr. Gruskin
has remained at home
with his wife, Renee,
and his stepson Ken
Skolnick.
"From Thanksgiving
on, we've had a nonstop
parade of visitors," said
Mrs. Gruskin. "His chil-
dren from out-of-state
came in almost every
weekend."
"He's a very special
man in every way," she
said. "He's kind, under-
standing, and a great
communicator — always
full of life, with the
energy of three people."
His stepson Ken con-
curred, "He started his
day at 5 in the morning
and kept going until 1
a.m. — the most organ-
ized person I know,
planning months in
Pediatrician Dr. Alan Gruskin: "The doing or perform- advance, always getting
things done early."
ing of mitzvahs is for me the essence of life."
Dr. Gruskin and Renee
have five children between
of Pediatrics at Wayne State University them: Glenn Gruskin of New York,
School of Medicine and pediatrician-
Karen Gruskin Smith of Boston, Ken
in-chief at Children's Hospital of
Skolnick of West Bloomfield, and Joel
Michigan. During the past 20 years,
and Carolyn Skolnick, both of Royal
he was instrumental in transforming
Oak, as well as eight grandchildren.
Children's into an internationally
"My professional life has been chal-
acclaimed medical facility.
lenging, rewarding and exciting," said
As much as he loved practicing
Dr. Gruskin. "It's allowed me to meet
medicine, Dr. Gruskin maintained a
and work with extraordinary people,
lifelong passion for music. An accom-
programs and institutions, and my
plished piano player, he performed
family has always been supportive.
solo and with various musical groups
We've always been there for each
throughout the years at special events,
other."
❑
Foundations
Reach Out To
JCC Special
Needs Kids
DIANA LIEBERMAN
StaffWriter/Copy Editor
T
wo local charitable foun-
dations have approved
grants for Kids All
Together, the non-sectari-
an special needs inclusion program
serving the Jewish Community
Center's Sarah and Irving Pitt Child
Development Center and the JCC's
summer day camp.
However, because one of the two
grants is a matching grant, the 5-
year-old program still needs individ-
ual contributors to serve all the fami-
lies who knock on its doors, accord-
ing to Nanci Furgang, JCC program
director for special needs and day
camp.
In late January, the Jewish Fund
approved a three-year challenge grant
that will match most contributions
to All Kids Together, up to $100,000
a year. This is the group's second
three-year grant from the fund,
which was created with proceeds of
the sale of Sinai Hospital of Detroit
in 1996. The Jewish Fund approved
23 grant applications in January, for
a total of $6 million.
Kids All Together also has been
approved for the last and final-year a
three-year grant from the Detroit-
based Skillman Foundation, in the
amount of $120,000. Proceeds of the
Skillman grant do not count toward
the matching funds required for the
Jewish Fund grant.
Established in 1960, the Skillman
Foundation is dedicated to meeting
the needs of metropolitan Detroit's
children. Its January grant approvals
totaled $5 million.
"We are thrilled to death we got
these grants," Furgang said.
In addition to providing inclusion
programming at the Pitt Center and
JCC summer camp, Kids All
Together runs a weekly recreational
program at the JCC in Oak Park for
Detroit's Helen Field Training
Center, and is in the process of
establishing similar partnerships with
other programs for young people
with special needs.
Running the Kids All Together
program costs about $235,000 per
year, Furgang said ❑
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2003
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