Post #18 - The First Loss and a Friend on the Frontlines of Research (thank you, Lorne Michaels)

In 1926, I was a 26-year-old writer in New York when there was a call for a Second Writer's Congress. Because of my work on the Hiss case, I recognized a lot of the progressive face who showed up. One of them was Howard A. Rodman who also worked in my office of the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee. At one session, Howard invited me to sit next to him and he  introduced me to his companion who was a very smart, funny and gracious guy. That was Michael Sorkin, one of the top architectural critics in the country. He was then writing for The Village Voice. Years later, when he was writing for The Nation, I was doing its educational program, sending the magazine to schools around the country. Whenever I would see a Sorkin article, I would jump for joy, because it was always so smart, edgy and provocatively written.

Last night came word that this funny, gracious guy died in a crowded  hospital room. I only met him a couple of times, but I still see him in my mind; he's the first person I ever knew who has died. It hit me like a punch in the stomach, but in a much, much view, his focus was always on building what was good and right for all of us. His death is a tremendous loss.

***

When I was in Hebrew school in East Meadow on Long Island, and also at Woodland Jr. High School, I had a bunch of friends who were pretty smart kids. One of them was a guy named Donnie Ingber. He went to to Yale University and then I lost touch with him for a few years.

Then, sometimes in the early 80s, I bumped into Donnie at a friend's wedding. He was his usual funny self and he said to me that he was trying to put together his comedy writing and apply for a job at Saturday Night Live. He did a few of the routines he wrote. We said goodbye at the end of the night and I wished him good luck and I didn't hear from him again until a few years ago when we organized an alternative 40th high school reunion. Someone told me that Don was up at Harvard, and indeed that's where I tracked him down.

It turned out he was heading one of the leading research labs in the country. And right now, his Wyss Institute is doing cutting age research into treating, testing and prevention in connection to the coronavirus. "Don Ingber is a vision," a surgeon friend told me. He is right. It turns out Don is one of the people this country is depending on to help us out of this crisis.

As our buddy Rick says, "We knew Donnie was smart, we just didn't know he was that smart."

In a black shirt, center, the pride of East Meadow High School

And all I can add to that, is if Donnie did apply to Saturday Night Live, he may not know it but in choosing *not* to hire Donnie, Lorne Michaels may end up yet in having saved millions of lives.

Here's what Don's institute is up to.