Bob Brent: Scientist, physician, scholar, teacher, mentor, and mensch

Abstract

Bob was the son of Polish Jewish immigrants. As a teenager, his mother, Rose, came to the United States from Zlochov in Austria-Hungary (later called Poland) on an American freighter. Bob's father, Charles, was born in Russia but immigrated to the United States when he was 2 years old. His father was tragically killed in an automobile accident when Bob was only an infant. Together, Bob and his mother lived in a low socioeconomic section of Rochester where Rose ran a hat and dress shop working from nine in the morning to 10 o'clock at night. She was successful in her business because she could speak all of the languages of her fellow immigrant neighbors, most of whom could not speak English. When Bob was not in school, he worked in his mother's store as a cashier and as a handyman, fixing the furnaces and everything else as needed. Though she & Bob lived very modestly, Rose was always willing to help others in need. From her, Bob learned tolerance and "to begin every relationship with empathy and respect" (Miller, 1997).As early as 7 years of age Bob told his mother he wanted to be a physician, though he would not charge his patients any money. Rose replied it was kind of him to feel that way, but not very practical (Bauers, 2015). So determined was he to be a physician that he stopped dating a girl in college because she had suggested that he apply to dental school after he told her how difficult it was to get into medical school. In the early 1940's, during World War II, he went to Benjamin Franklin High School, a typical "inner city melting pot public school." When Bob was in the 10th grade, he became concerned that he would be drafted into war before he was able to go to college. So he asked for and was given permission to graduate early as long as he was able to pass all of the college exams that are typically administered during the senior year of high school. Between the 10th and the 11th grades he diligently studied advanced chemistry, biology and physics. At the end of his junior year in high school he took and passed all of the requisite college exams and was able to graduate from high school at 15 years of age. This gave him 2 years to go to college before he would be drafted.