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Colleagues, friends recall Dr. Ze'ev Rabinowitz
LIBERTY
A news junkie with encyclopedic knowledge of Jewish and Israeli history and Middle East politics, a good friend and a great doctor who cared deeply about his patients is how friends and colleagues described Dr. Asher Ze’ev Rabinowitz.
An ophthalmologist who pioneered refractive eye surgery in the Youngstown area, Dr. Rabinowitz, of Liberty, died Sunday after a long illness.
A funeral was conducted at Shriver-Allison-Courtley and King Funeral Home in Youngstown shortly after his death, and he was buried Tuesday in Israel, where he was born, reared and educated.
“He was a great eye doctor who really cared about his patients. Many of them had been with him so long they thought of him as a friend as well as their doctor,” said Dr. Sherif Hanna, Dr. Rabinowitz’s business partner for 17 years at Belmont Eye Clinic on Belmont Avenue in Liberty. “He was a very likable person; a good man who definitely will be missed.”
Joni Catlos, financial director for Belmont Eye Clinic, said she and several other employees have worked at the clinic for more than 30 years.
“We are extremely upset and will miss him terribly. He was wonderful to work for,” said Catlos of Poland, who started in 1979 as a receptionist. “He had a huge influence on everybody here. He will be really, really missed.”
“I feel sad to lose a colleague like him,” said Dr. Hai-shiuh Wang, ophthalmologist with Eye Care Associates.
“His surgical skills were astronomical. He brought many new procedures to the Mahoning Valley and saved the sight of many patients,” Dr. Wang said.
“He was a fierce defender of Israel and the Jewish people,” Dr. Wang continued.
His knowledge and wisdom and accessibility will also be missed, said Alvin Weisberg, president of Children of Israel Congregation, of which Dr. Rabinowitz was a member and former president.
In addition to his profession, his passions were ancient and modern Jewish and Israeli history, and Middle East, American and world politics in general, Weisberg said.
“The depth of his knowledge was encyclopedic. When he walked into a room, all eyes would turn to him for clarification on any of those subjects,” Weisberg said.
He was a news junkie and a prolific writer of letters to the editors of newspapers and magazines.
He could take complex matters and clarify and discuss them at great length to help people know and understand better. As a human being, he was friendly and accessible and would always give all the time needed to engage in any kind of discussion, Weisberg said.
“He will be missed by many, many people; colleagues, members of the congregation and the Jewish and Youngstown community at large,” Weisberg said.
In his honor and a week before his death, Dr. Rabinowitz’s family and the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown presented Israeli concert pianist and scholar Dr. Astrith Baltsan at the DeYor Performing Arts Center in downtown Youngstown.