SHOLOM OMI WAIFE, MD

1919 - 2011
Sholom Omi Waife, MD, of Tequesta, FL, passed away peacefully on March 6,2011 at age92. with his loving family at his side.
Dr. Waife was a physician, writer and researcher. Born in Brooklyn, NY 2-20-1919, he was the son of the late Maroussia Waife aka Goldberg, author, and Benjamin Zion Waife aka BZ Goldberg, longtime columnist and former Editor of Der Tag (The Day) in New York. He was the grandson of Shlom Aleichem, the Yiddish writer, whose stories were adapted for Fiddler of the Roof, the Broadway musical and for whom he was named.
Sholom graduated from Johns Hopkins University and medical degree at New York University in 1943, and served the war effort in clinical care and research positions in the Northeast. After the war he was briefly in private practice in Baltimore, and then joined the staff at Philadelphia General Hospital where he created one of the first continuing medical education programs in the country for hospital staff. He was recruited to join Eli Lilly & Co., in Indianapolis, as a researcher in nutritional medicine. His studies on pyroxidine (Vitamin B6) and Diabetes, are still seminal references.
Called back to the service in 1954 as a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, he served as one of the editors of the Armed Services Medical Journal. After returning to Lilly in 1956 he became Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and was National Secretary of the American Medical Writers Association. During this period he also published a column for the Physicians Bulletin entitled The Doctor Writes, which was later collected and published in book form. He was also co-author of The Clinical Evaluation of New Drugs.
As Director of Medical Affairs at Lilly, Dr. Waife created a series of educational texts, which were distributed to each graduating medical school student in the US. Subsequently he produced medical education films. Dr. Waife was a great lover of music, fishing, and in later years, golf. A drum player in his youth, his love of music led to Board positions with the Indianapolis Symphony, and WFYI public radio in Indianapolis. He hosted weekly radio programs on WFYI on both jazz and Gilbert & Sullivan.
Dr. Waife is survived by his wife Margaret Waife, his daughter Wendy Marcus Lebson and her husband Dr. Robert Lebson of Mt.Carmel CT, his son Ronald Waife and Susan Maxwell of Needham MA, his brother Mitchell Waife, former executive director of the Jewish Home and Hospital in NY and Adele Waife of Boynton Beach FL. Dr. Waife is also survived by four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Rabbi Audrey Marcus Berkman of Needham MA, and Rabbi Jethro Berkman, and their sons Gavriel and Amiel Berkman, Lesley Marcus of Guilford CT, and Emily and Madeline Waife of Needham MA. Dr. Waife is also survived by niece Sandra Rothenberg, and Dr. Steven Rothenberg Weston CT, and nephew Robert Waife and Laurene Waife of Shelter Island, NY. His wife, Jane Silverman Waife, passed away in 1988.