LEGENDS IN THEIR FIELDS AND IN OUR FAMILY

Pictured at the podium is my husband Arnee, as he was giving his acceptance speech after receiving the coveted 2019 Sidney H. Lehmann Award, on May 17, 2019. This foremost honor is bestowed by the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Labor & Employment Law Section at the State Bar’s annual convention in Atlantic City.

Arnee was selected for the award, “For his years of advocacy on behalf of unions and employees and his contributions to the labor and employment law section.” Already voted by his peers in 2017 as the top New Jersey Lawyer for Representing Individuals in Employment Law, this latest award was gravy (I suppose I’m still in Thanksgiving mode).

The same month, we also learned that a cousin, Ronald A. Cohen, Ph.D., “Professor, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology
Evelyn F. McKnight Chair for Clinical Translational Research in Cognitive Aging
Director, UF Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory Clinical Translational Research,” was named one of seven University of Florida (UF) Research Foundation Professors for 2019-2022. The official announcement proclaimed: “Seven McKnight Brain Institute members from four colleges were named UF Research Foundation Professors for 2019-2022, an honor given to faculty whose research is likely to lead to continuing distinction in their fields.

“Key to this recognition is that it is based not just on what they have done in the past, but what they are expected to achieve in the future,” said David Norton, Ph.D., UF vice president for research.

“Established in 1997, UFRF Professors are recommended by their college deans based on nominations from their department chairs, a personal statement and an evaluation of their recent research accomplishments as evidenced by publications in scholarly journals, external funding, honors and awards, development of intellectual property and other measures appropriate to their field of expertise.”

May was quite a month of noteworthy news in our family. That was when speaking with my cousin Chuck, I learned that his son, or in genealogy terminology, my 2nd cousin once removed, Paul A. Friedman, M.D., was promoted to “Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.”

As if the above three major achievements in the family last May weren’t enough, I also found out on Facebook then that U. S. Army Paratrooper Lt. Col. Andrew J. Baker, earned his Master Parachutist Badge. Quoting his wife, Shannon, daughter of my late cousin Roger Schissler, “Congratulations to my husband Andy Baker for earning his Master Parachutist Badge! This is extremely impressive. It is an amazing accomplishment for any Airborne soldier, but Andy did this while also being a present and wonderful father to two baby girls, a supportive and loving husband, and a Battalion Commander. We are immensely proud of you Andy!

“According to www.veteranmedals.army.mil: MASTER Parachutist: Participated in 65 jumps to include 25 jumps with combat equipment; four night jumps, one of which is as a jumpmaster of a stick; five mass tactical jumps which culminate in an airborne assault problem with a unit equivalent to a battalion or larger, a separate company/battery, or organic staff of a regiment size or larger; graduated from the Jumpmaster Course; and served in jump status with an airborne unit or other organization authorized parachutists for a total of at least 36 months.”

These are the only lifetime achievement awards for our relatives, of which I was made aware in May 2019. Proud parents or spouses, from various sides of the family, were the messengers. By the way, all of their bios are too long to post; it would behoove anyone to take a few minutes to look them up. With so many bright stars acknowledged in one month alone, imagine what the extended family could accomplish by pooling all of this talent.

The truth is that family members often do not know about the achievements of their relatives, and/or what joy they have brought until they hear about them at their funerals. That’s one reason why I am embarking on the 15th yearly issue of my family newsletters. My aim, as always, is to share all of the many accomplishments in the various branches of our extended family, along with keeping all the relatives up to date on life cycle events, interspersed with various bits of memorabilia.

Last spring alone, the accomplishments from the extended family were mind-boggling, and I’m sure that was just the tip of the iceberg for 2019. I sincerely hope that any of my relatives reading this blog post will send me more wonderful tributes to post in the newsletters. I only know about them if you, or your loved ones, notify me. I don’t have to tell anyone who told me, I can simply use an old throwback from my Aunt Fannie’s repertoire. She was known to cover the tracks by saying, “a little birdie told me.”

I eagerly look forward to sharing all the fabulous family news and achieving my ultimate goal of having our cousins share the newsletters with their children/grandchildren. The younger generations will hopefully be inspired to know their relatives and learn the importance of working to help others in all kinds of ways. What a wonderful world it would be.

Ronald A. Cohen, Ph.D. University of Florida Gainesville

Paul A. Friedman, M.D. Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN

U. S. Army Paratrooper Lt. Col. Andrew J. Baker