We received the sad news today that David Lipschitz passed away on March 6th just shy of his 80th birthday. This obituary appeared in the Arkansas Gazette.
3/8/23, 3:22 PM Obituary for David A Lipschitz, Little Rock, AR
https://www.arkansasonline.com/obituaries/2023/mar/08/david-lipschitz-2023-03-08/ 2/3
David A Lipschitz
Little Rock, AR, 1943 - 2023
Physician, author, television host, and devoted family man, Dr.
David A. Lipschitz, most affectionally known as "Dr. David," passed
away on March 6 surrounded by his family.
Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, Dr. David was the
oldest and naughtiest of four children. Ever the entrepreneur, he
once dug up all the plants in his father's garden and attempted to
sell them on the roadside. Luckily, he moved beyond his
mischievous ways and went on to study medicine at the
University of Witwatersrand.
Following in his father's footsteps, David left his home country in
search of a better life, emigrating to the United States in 1972 to
escape Apartheid-era policies. Upon arriving in America, he
trained as a hematologist at the University of Washington and did the seminal research in the
development of the serum ferritin assay, a tool that is still used to help evaluate iron levels in blood. (A
fact he never let his children forget.)
After stints at Montefiore Medical Center and Kansas University Medical School, he joined the
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as director of the Division of
Hematology/Oncology.
Dr. David flourished in Little Rock. He began research on the effects of nutrition on aging, which led to
a lifelong focus on the unique medical needs of older people. In 1995, he assumed the position of
director of the Center on Aging at UAMS. Under his leadership, UAMS received $30.2 million from the
Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to establish the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics and
the Institute on Aging. He went on to facilitate the development of a statewide network for geriatric
care, ensuring that every older Arkansan had access to high quality medical care.
While Dr. David was an exceptional leader in medical research and administration, his greatest passion
was educating his patients and the public about healthy aging. He often said, "Everything you've been
told about growing older is wrong!" Through his weekly newspaper columns, radio shows and
television segments, he empowered people to live each day to the fullest. Well before "body positivity,"Dr. David told people to love their bodies, embrace the wrinkles and appreciate being "pleasantlyplump"! He truly loved every single one of his patients and dedicated his life to their care.
"Dr David" the personality was just "Dad" at home, where he took his job as "Most Embarrassing Dadin the World" very seriously! He never missed an opportunity to crack a corny joke, hum a made-uptune, or dance as if no one was watching (though clearly everyone was!). Any dinner at Trio's waspreceded by a deliberate schmoozing ritual of hugs, kisses and over-the-top fl attery of fellow diners.This voracious appetite for life also meant he was never afraid to put a fork on someone else's plate –resulting in a whole generation of speed eaters. He was endlessly devoted to his three Frenchbulldogs, Barkley, Mochi, and Peaches. They were expertly trained to sleep in a pile on his lap while hewatched murder mystery shows for hours.
But most of all he loved his family, his wife, Francie, who he said was the most brilliant mother andphysician in the world; his six children, Andrea, Elan, Howard, Riley, Forbes, and Evan; and hisgrandchildren, Nicola, Ella, Sydney, Parker, Zoe, Amon, and Rowan. He took every opportunity toshower his family with hugs, kisses and endless unsolicited advice. He spent hours talking with hissisters, Toni Spitz and Jocelyn Wolman. They were planning one last reunion in Israel that was sadlycancelled due to illness.
He is preceded in death by his brother, Arthur Lipschitz; as well as his parents, Hanid Kahn and HenryLipschitz. For all those who loved him, he will be dearly missed.
David lived a full, brilliant life. He loved deeply, gave of himself freely, and cried with abandon at anymoving moment.
A memorial service will be held at Temple B'nai Israel at 3 p.m. Wednesday March 8, 2023. In lieu offl owers, memorials may be made in his honor to Planned Parenthood of Little Rock or the InterfaithCenter of Arkansas.
Published March 8, 2023
Basil Porter
I knew David Lipschitz from high school days in Johannesburg, and we lived just a few blocks from each other. He was always not only physically visible but was never afraid of having his opinion heard. We lost touch after leaving Medical School and then I saw his picture on the cover of his book at Barnes and Noble in New York. I still remember his colorful talk at our 50 th reunion. I think that meeting was specially sighting him.
Raymond Brown
So sad to hear of David's death. He was my friend and 2nd year dissection partner at Medical School. I always had to remember to sit on his right side during lectures as his expansive left handed notes writing needed so much space. I vividly recall being frightened every time he drove us in his blue Valiant car while expounding his theories about every conceiveable topic, completely forgetting he was driving. I lost touch after we both emigrated but heard about his career through the class of '66 website. David was a funny, very kind and courageous person who dedicated his career to helping others. He will be missed by his large family and his many patients and friends.
Raymond Brown
Martin Colman (Class Of 1964)
I was very sad to read that Dave had passed away. He was an always energetic, interesting and engaging person. My interactions with Dave over the years were few and far between because of our divergent paths, in medicine and geographically. I first got to know David fairly well during the few years we actually worked together. I was doing my residency in radiation oncology at the Jhb Gen (1968 to 1970), and Dave was one of Harry Seftel's outstanding group of internal medicine residents who were engaged to cover the general medical needs of our radiation oncology inpatients. We crossed paths in occasional encounters in the clinics and on the inpatient unit, and we did weekly rounds together with Nora de Moor. Those ward rounds were, dare I say, entertaining, and often the highlight of our week's activities.
He and I met again over a few months in 1995, when I was invited to be the chair of radiation oncology at the UAMS in Little Rock, Arkansas. Dave's presence and leadership role in geristrics at medical school (and the fact that at the time he still played squash) were very attractive features of the school.
After I moved to UTMB in Galveston, Dave had ties to the geriatrics program there and served as occasional visiting professor. During his visits, we got together for occasional meals and I attended his lectures and presentations which were always interesting, original, and thought-provoking.
To his family and close friends, Elinor and I offer our deep condolences. Zichronam livracha - may his memory be a blessing to all who knew him.
David Nathanson
The obituary is a beautiful tribute to a larger-than-life man. I remember him sitting in the first row on the left side of the Harveian Lecture Theatre. He always stayed alert, writing notes and never shy to ask questions of the lecturers. I remember one difficult question he asked of Professor Levy that so flabbergasted him that Levy paused for a number of moments before saying: 'Mr ipschitz; I am not God ----yet!' But even before medical school, in the high school we shared, he liked to challenge the teachers and debate them.
To David's family - I'm sad you lost him, but you wll never lose those precious memories of him.
Alan Reichman
I was very saddened by the sad news of David's passing. I last saw David and his wife for a pleasant rendezvous at a restaurant in Little Rock. We had a great lunch in which we had a walk down memory lane. Dave and I recalled that we were cabin mates on the Pendennis Castle sailing from Cape Town to Southampton in December 1962 at the start of a 6 week NUSAS tour of England and Europe. I got to know Dave and would like to echo his fine attributes regarding both his intellectual and moral qualities. He will be missed and I would like to convey my sincere condolences to his entire family. RIP Dave
Edward Gomperts
Dave had a big personality, bright intellect and warm smile. I knew him as an excellent hematologist. We were closely associated during the years of his PhD studies on iron metabolism in Tom Bothwell's lab when he and I regularly attended the weekly Oncology rounds at the Gen chaired by Tom Bothwell (At the time, I was carrying out research for my MD thesis at the SAIMR with Stan Zail and Jack Metz - not on iron metabolism). Back in 1976, I also considered joining him, John Lynch and Marge Zucker in Kansas City. Despite his enthusiasm that I move to KC, circumstances turned out otherwise. After that brief KC interaction, I lost contact with him to re-establish superficial interaction through our current portal. His son's memorial is warm and touching and provides a delighful snap-shot of who Dave was professionally, but most important as a loving father.
John King
I am very sad to hear of the passing of David; a loving, caring, humble & gentle man. A sad loss to the world, his colleagues & associates, but of course especially to his precious family to whom I extend my sincere condolences. I pray the LORD will be very close to you, comforting you now & in the days , weeks, months and years ahead! "Thank You LORD for David, and thank you David for sharing your life with us and directly or indirectly with so many others. You will be missed!"
Michael Belman
As is the case with so many of us our connections with classmates forged during medical school slowly fade over time. So, my contact with Dave was infrequent for many years. During the past several years I had the pleasure of communicating with him on several occasions on matters related to the class website. There is no doubt that Dave was the most enthusiastic and generous supporter of the website. Starting a year or so before our 50th reunion in South Africa Dave was a prolofic contributor to the ste pages. His many notes and birthday wishes are peppered throughout the site. Very significant also was his generosity and he was a strong supporter of the fundraising effort we had for the Philip Tobias Fund in 2016 and last year he contributed half of the amount (anonymously) we needed to renew our subscription to Class Creator and keep it advertisement free.
His professional and personal attributes and achievements have been well described and appropriately lauded in the many comments already posted. From his obituary we read of his public service talks and lessons on healthy living especially for the elderly. We have one of his videos (see Wits Video Newest) listed at the top of the left side contents which he sent us a few years back. The video below that (Wits Video Newer) shows the inimitable Harry Seftel, a favorite mentor of Daves, who he held in very high regard. Harry Seftel also dispenses valuable advice on how to keep healthy.
Dave was always pushing for another class reunion. Our diamond jubilee is now visible in the distance. Hopefully that will happen, but David will be sorely missed. We, on the other hand, will have the opportunity to reminisce about his many valuable contributions to our class story.
Norman Silverman
I met David while on vacation after graduating from high school. At medical school we became friends as we regularly dated two friends. Our friendship was augmented during our trip to Europe with NUSAS, where David, Alan Reichman, David Nathanson and I represented our WMS class contingent. At the end of this trip in Israel I was indebted to him for introducing me to Heather Rosenberg, who later became my wife.
After graduating from medical school and going to the United States we lost contact. A mutual friend, Jack Kabak (WMS 1968), kept us appraised of David’s progress in Arkansas. I have only seen David at our class gatherings but have been in contact with him by phone on many occasions.
A few weeks ago he called me to invite Jack and me to visit him at his condo in San Diego and we were planning this in the summer. When I told him I had a meeting in Little Rock, he generously invited me to stay at his home while there. Unfortunately, these visits were not to be.
My last association with David was during our visit to South Africa for my younger daughter’s wedding. We found a boutique hotel in Houghton. It was a large, converted home that we were able to confirm with David had been his parents’ home – slightly modified. It brought back memories of the time we had celebrated his twenty-first birthday in that self-same place.
David was an extremely affectionate, generous, and considerate human being, and a great doctor. He lived his life well and he carried on during his last illness with grace and optimism.
Robert Jacobson
I am very saddened by the passing of David. Over the past 3 months I spoke to David nearly every week as he bravely dealt with cancer and the side effects of treatment. He tried to apply all he knew about aging and coping to his own situation. He did this with humor and insight and critically assessed the care he was receiving. We spoke often on FaceTime and it was such a pleasure to see his smiling face and hear him laugh and praise his family and friends. He loved attending the Wits 66 class reunions and spoke of attending one more , even a small get together in Israel when he was to visit his sisters and both of us would be there at the same time. He always praised his training at Wits and the impact of his mentors on his love for teaching patients and students. David was still seeing patients upto a few weeks before he was bed bound and debated with me when should he retire from clinical practice.
About 10 years ago I invited Dr. David to give a lecture on healthy aging in Palm Beach, Florida. The auditorium was packed and David delivered an outstanding lecture followed by Q and A and the audience loved him. He connected with everyone giving personal anecdotes when appropriate and I realized he was a master doctor and geriatrician. David had great enthusiasm and pride for his academic work in Arkansas and the Geriatric Center he helped establish. He also would ask me with a smile on his face " Did I ever order a ferritin level, "the assay he developed . To spend time with David was a treat , his infectious and enthusiastic approach to life was unique.
I extend my heartfelt condolences to his wife and family. He was loving and very proud of his children and grandchildren. He will be greatly missed .