DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 15
“My mom would roll in her grave
if she knew he was my father,
” Jaime
told JN. “She did not pick that.
”
Jaime, who now lives in Traverse
City, has so far connected with five
other half-siblings assumed to be
the biological children of Dr. Peven
through artificial insemination.
They’re spread out across the coun-
try, from Michigan to Oregon.
Dr. Peven, 104, delivered more
than 9,000 babies during his career,
some through artificial insemina-
tion. But according to his son, Roger
Peven, he has not taken a DNA test
himself to help verify how many
biological children he has.
Detroit Medical Center, which
today runs Sinai-Grace Hospital,
declined to comment for this
article.
A WELL-RESPECTED DOCTOR
Philip Peven was born in Detroit
in 1916. He attended Central High
School and Wayne State University,
and later studied medicine at the
University of Michigan. He gradu-
ated in 1941; at 104, he is the oldest
living alumnus of U-M’s medical
school.
After finishing medical school,
Dr. Peven joined the U.S. Army
Reserve in the medical corps.
He met a woman named Kay in
England before leaving for the
World War II invasion of North
Africa, where he served as a sur-
geon. The two married in 1945
and had two children togeth-
er — Roger, who now lives in
Washington state and runs a law
firm in Spokane, and Kari, who
lives in Michigan. Dr. Peven and
Kay were together until Kay’s pass-
ing in 2013.
Dr. Peven, who now lives in
Southfield, went on to serve as
chief of obstetrics at Grace Hospital
(now DMC Sinai-Grace), and a
professor of obstetrics and gyne-
cology at Wayne State University
School of Medicine. He was also
affiliated with Sinai Hospital. He
retired in 1987.
He was well known for assisting
women in Metro Detroit with
their pregnancies and personally
continued on page 16
GARY HOWE
“TO SEE THAT I WAS
50% ASHKENAZI JEW
WAS A BIT
OF A SHOCK!”
— JAIME HALL
Traverse City resident Jaime Hall
says Dr. Philip Peven admitted she
was his biological daughter after
she showed him her DNA test.