Last Updated ...

PORT ST.LUCIE, FL

 

Last Updated 02/2024

FRANKLIN LAKES, NJ
BOCA RATON, FL

Graduating from Queens College (QC) in 1971, Gail (Marcovitz) and I were married that August. We went off to graduate school at the University of Chicago for a year and then back to QC for coursework that I needed before applying to dental school. Enrolling in the first class of a new dental school at Stony Brook University in 1973, I graduated in 1977. This was followed by 3 terrific years in Boston when I was in a residency program in Periodontics at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

My career interests were primarily in academics and research, and in 1988 I was appointed Director of Periodontics at the Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery (now the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine; CDM) I was a faculty member at Columbia for 29 years, serving as Dean of the CDM from 2001 to 2012, and as Professor in the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia from 2012-2017. During this time Gail was a speech-language specialist at the Forum School in Waldwick, New Jersey, retiring in 2016. The School focuses on children with autism and neurological impairment.

Gail and I have been married for nearly 53 years and have 2 daughters, 2 sons-in-laws and 5 grandchildren. Rachel is an early education teacher and is married to Evan, who is in-house counsel at GAF Corporation. They have 2 children, Ben (17) and Jenna (14). Stephanie is a Senior Scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency and is married to Justin, who is the Chief of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at NYU Langone. They have 3 children, Tobey (16), Max (13), and Mollie (9) .

Since leaving my full-time position in 2017, I have remained busy. I am on the faculty of the School of Dental Medicine at Stony Brook and consult for different oral health companies, most notably Colgate. We now spend about 6 months each year in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, and 6 months in Boca Raton, Florida. My golf game is fair, but we are fortunate to live in Florida and play regularly in the winter. Gails's cousin Merle Fishkin has a home in our community in Florida. Merle was married to Brian Fishkin, who also was a member of HOB. Brian passed about 6 years ago.

All in all, we have been most fortunate. We have travelled to many places in our country and across the globe, often related to my work. Now we continue to travel both here and abroad. Our children and grandchildren live about 25 minutes from us in New Jersey and visit when we are in Florida. Acknowledging that we met at QC, and received a wonderful education there, a few years ago Gail and I decided to endow a scholarship at Queens. It is good to give back.