Obituaries are updated regularly and archived on JN Online: www.detroitjewishnews.com A Medical Pioneer LEONARD POGER Copy Editor D r. Hedvig (Rosenthal) Spitzer was a trailblazer whose life and career paralleled the 20-century saga of the Jewish people. A Holocaust survivor who hid with her mother in Budapest, Hungary, during the war, she went on to become a pioneering physician in Israel and the United States. Dr. Spitzer, 77, of West Bloomfield, died Nov. 13, 2004, of abdominal com- plications. Her son Dr. A. Robert Spitzer of West Bloomfield described his mother as a strong personality who survived three battles with cancer and other med- ical problems. "She was brash, headstrong and confi- dent," he said. "She was a pioneer all her life." Dr. Spitzer and her family have been Detroit area residents since the late 1980s, retiring around 1990. Born in Marmaros-Sziget, Romania, in 1927, she and her mother went into hiding in Budapest during World War II, using forged papers reflecting that they were not Jews. Her father was con- fined to the Budapest ghetto. The doc- tor-to-be, her parents and about half of her aunts and uncles survived the war. In the late 1940s, she entered medical school in Austria at a time when women were largely barred from becoming doc- tors. She went to Israel shortly after it won its independence and, in 1949, was part of the first graduating class of Israel's first medical school at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Attending the ceremony was Israel's first prime minis- ter, David Ben-Gurion. After graduation, Dr. Spitzer cared for immigrants and refugees, particularly those from North Africa and Arab coun- tries, who were pouring into the new state. She worked under stressful condi- Dr. Hedvig Spitzer tions because of repeated Arab attacks. In the early 1950s, she came to New York City to complete her medical train- ing, becoming the first resident at the new Van Etten Hospital of the newly formed Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. After completing training in internal medi- cine, pathology, and neuropathology, Dr. Spitzer joined the faculty at the medical school, created because of quotas imposed elsewhere on Jewish applicants. Reflecting her pioneer spirit, Dr. Spitzer was the first doctor to use an iron lung in the early 1950s to resusci- tate a patient with respiratory failure from chronic lung disease. Through the 1960s and 1970s, Dr. Spitzer was active in fund-raising for the State of Israel, returning there in the 1980s to practice pathology at Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv. She later returned to the United States, working at Harper Hospital in the Detroit Medical Center. Dr. Spitzer exemplified the concept of "eshet chayil"— part of a Sabbath prayer praising "women of valor and courage," her son said. She was active in fund-rais- ing for the United Jewish Appeal for Israeli and Jewish causes. She was a strong believer in Jewish education, and all her children and grandchildren have attended Jewish day schools. Dr. Spitzer is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law, Dr. A. Robert Spitzer and Dr. Ann Silverman of West Bloomfield, Jeffrey Spitzer and Nicky Cregor of Jerusalem; and grandchildren, A Gem Of A Chef LEONARD POGER Copy Editor M ark G. Davis, a prominent chef and caterer, will be remembered for his kind- ness, thoughtfulness and his concern for others, said his mother, Friedel Davis of West Bloomfield. "He was a gem — very loving and someone who had a place in his heart for everyone." Mr. Davis, who was born in Saginaw and grew up in the Detroit area, was a chef at several well-known local restaurants, including the former Money Tree in Detroit and Tweeney's and Punchinello, both in Birmingham. Mr. Davis, 56, died Nov. 13, 2004, in a fire in his West Bloomfield home. His mother shared memories of her son, who graduated from Berkley High School and Michigan State University and studied culinary arts in 11/19 2004 102 Paris, France. During his career, he was a personal chef for many prominent people, including the late David Hermelin, the U.S. ambassador to Norway dur- ing the Clinton administration. He cooked for the Hermelins at both the embassy in Oslo and at their Bingham Farms home. Mr. Davis' mother said he was preparing for a trip to North Carolina to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for a family there, an annual excursion. Over the years, Mr. Davis also pre- pared benefit dinners. In an interview in the October-November Detroit Home magazine, he recalled his cater- ing days in celebrity-filled Los Angeles, which he called the "catering capital of the world." Mr. Davis' sister Eileen lives in Los Angeles and is married to the actor, writer and musician Bill Mumy. She remembers her brother's days there and the kindness he exhib- ited to those he met. "No one was a stranger to Mark — from the digni- taries he prepared food for to the dishwashers he worked with — he treated everyone equally," said his sister. Growing up, her brother loved to sing, she recalled. "He's just creative. "Mark grew up in a fami- ly that was involved in pro- fessional food preparation. Our grandparents owned Mertz Bakery on Linwood in Detroit and later on 10 Mile and Coolidge in Oak Mark Davis Park. He grew up all around As a youth, Mr. Davis was active in the food business." Jewish school and synagogue pro- His first experience as a waiter in a grams, his mother recalled, noting his local restaurant is what got him inter- membership in United Synagogue ested in cooking, she said.