Hadassah Honors Irma Milstein’s Passing with a Special Memorial Tribute Video
IRMA MILSTEIN obituary
MILSTEIN–Irma. Irma Cameron Milstein, aged 95, of New York City and Scarsdale, passed away peacefully in her sleep, surrounded by loved ones. Irma was a devoted daughter to her parents, the late Harry and Sadelle Cameron. She was a loving wife to the late Paul Milstein to whom she was happily married for 63 years. She was adored by her loving children (Roslyn and Jerry Meyer, Howard and Abby Milstein, Barbara and David Zalaznick, and Edward Milstein and the late Robin Rapoport Milstein), grandchildren (Rebecca Meyer and Jeff Resnik, Michael Meyer, Jamie Meyer, Michael Milstein, Jeffrey and Ali Zalaznick, Samantha Zalaznick, Amy and Tim Sommers, Andrew and Carly Milstein, Lexi and Michael Feldstein, Benjamin Milstein, Elizabeth and Jeremy Orlian) and great-grandchildren (Lucy and Forest Meyer-Resnik, Poppy, Leo, and Zoey Zalaznick, Bella and Sadie Milstein). Irma is also survived by her dear sister Phyllis Edelman and her brother-in-law Jerome Edelman. Irma was born in Brooklyn, where she went to public high school, and earned an undergraduate degree from Brooklyn College, Phi Beta Kappa, where she majored in languages. She was fluent in French and Spanish. She met the love of her life, Paul Milstein, through a family connection, and theirs was a long, great and joyously happy marriage. She was a true partner to Paul in business and at home and they traveled and discovered the world together. Irma valued family above all else and was an involved and devoted daughter, wife, mother, sister, aunt, niece and cousin. Her extended family returned that love and devotion. For her children, Irma instilled a love, appreciation and respect for each other and the importance of giving and making a difference in others’ lives. Irma loved life and lived it with zest. She was a very happy person by nature and she infused that joy and enthusiasm into everything she did. She was quick to laugh and brought sunshine wherever she went. She was brilliant, elegant, capable, and decisive. A lifetime of playing cards and scrabble with friends and family — and teaching the same across generations — created special memories of spirited and sophisticated play, fun, and wonderful conversations. Irma was generous and caring, gave thoughtfully and creatively, and was personally involved in the details of initiatives close to her heart. She was especially focused on gifts that furthered and broadened access to science, education and learning, and medicine. Irma was passionate about the American Museum of Natural History, where she was a dedicated and involved Trustee for many years. She was particularly proud of several initiatives, including the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, which featured the modernization and refurbishment of its legendary “Whale Room.” In addition, she led the creation of an innovative program to bring the museum to children throughout the city with the mobile museums vans and created the Milstein Science Series to introduce young children and their families to the awe and wonders of science, and funded the exciting renovation of the Milstein Hall of Advanced Mammals, which was dedicated to all the children of New York City. She served on the Board of the Jewish Theological Seminary, creating the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue as well as the development of a new High Holy Day prayer book, which has been adopted in synagogues nationally, known as the Milstein Mahzor. Irma served on the Board of Hadassah and became a Life Member. She funded a ground-breaking new Milstein Heart Center at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, which was dedicated in 2018. A generous benefactor to Bank Street College of Education, Irma was awarded an honorary doctorate degree. She loved the New York Public Library, where she and Paul endowed the Milstein Division of US History, Local History, and Genealogy. Other organizations that Irma supported included the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the American Jewish Committee, Jewish Agency for Services for the Aged (JASA), the Jewish Museum, and UJA-Federation. Irma’s family will be forever grateful to Juan Acosta, who gave Irma extraordinary and loving care in her final years. Gifts in memory of Irma Milstein may be made to the American Museum of Natural History or Hadassah.
Published in New York Times on Mar. 16, 2021.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=irma-milstein&pid=198052814
Howard and Abby Milstein dedicate the new state-of-the-art “Irma and Paul Milstein Heart Center” in Jerusalem
Howard and Abby Milstein dedicate the new state-of-the-art “Irma and Paul Milstein Heart Center” in Jerusalem
Hadassah Ein Kerem doubles ability to treat heart patients with new state-of-the-art Irma and Paul Milstein Heart Center in Jerusalem.
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Ribbon-cutting with Abby and Howard Milstein.
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In the presence of Deputy Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman, National President of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America Ellen Hershkin, Director General of Hadassah Hospital Prof Zeev Rotstein, Howard Milstein inaugurated the Irma and Paul Milstein Heart Center in Hadassah Ein Kerem, Jerusalem in honor of his parents.
The new center occupies the entire third floor, 4500 square meters, of the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower. It makes use of the world’s most sophisticated medical technology and more than doubles the department’s previous capacity to treat heart patients. This includes 11 intensive care private rooms plus 11 post-catherization beds and another 32 beds in the cardiac ward.
Irma Milstein is a member of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. She and her late husband Paul, from New York, earmarked their ten million dollar donation for the heart center.
Howard Milstein, an American entrepreneur and real estate developer and his wife Abby Milstein attended the dedication ceremony, with a large delegation of American Hadassah supporters and Israeli health leaders.
Prof. Chaim Lotan, Director of the Heart Institute at Hadassah Medical Organization, said: “The new center, located in the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower and spread over 4,500 square meters, catapults us fifty years ahead. Several decades ago we established the most advanced cardiac intensive care unit in Israel; this new Heart Center covers more than four times the space of our previous department. Now, we will be able to treat more patients. The Heart Center includes four of the most advanced catheterization labs in the world and another two more catheterization labs are planned. An additional catheterization lab will operate at Hadassah Mount Scopus to prevent the need to transfer patients to Ein Kerem.”
A direct pathway brings patients with heart attacks to the catheterization labs without the need for processing through the emergency room.
Giant high resolution screens connected to the imaging equipment display all of the patient’s vital data at once.
The catheterization labs include one room that operates a bi-plane system providing three-dimensional imaging of the heart from two cameras at the same time.
Said Lotan, “Our experts use these imagines in real time for maximum accuracy. In a hybrid room, we can switch from catheterization to open heart surgery if necessary without moving the patient and losing valuable time. The 2019 dual-camera system is among the first installed in the world. There are inner-aortal cameras and numerous other technological advances that were considered science fiction not long ago. “
Complementing the technological advances are new and spacious conditions, comfortable for patients and their families. In addition to monitors, doctors and nurses will be able to see patients through a closed-circuit video system.
Irma and Paul Milstein, whose generous contribution enabled the establishment of the center, have long contributed to health and medicine. In addition, the family supports education, the arts and scientific research in New York and in countries abroad, including the Milstein Building at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. The Milsteins value the combination of research and treatment that is the hallmark of Hadassah Medical Organization.
Ellen Hershkin, President of the Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America, said: “We are proud and excited to open the Heart Center in Honor of Irma and Paul Milstein, the most advanced cardiac center in Israel. Irma Milstein, a dedicated member of Hadassah Women, personally chose to support and advance cardiology. Irma knows that by improving the medical methods and facilities, the excellent physicians at Hadassah will continue to improve research and treatment in the field. We are eternally grateful for their commitment and dedication to the field of heart treatment at Hadassah.”
Janice Weinman, CEO of Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America, presided over the dedication and noted that, “The center brings sophisticated technology , and for the first time, enough room to teach heart professionals from around the world who have asked to learn from Hadassah’s cadre of experts and innovators.”
Howard Milstein said at the event: “My father, Paul, Of Blessed Memory, and my mother, Irma, saw Hadassah’s mission statement as the highest expression of the founding ideals of the State of Israel: to forge ‘links between patients of all nationalities, races and religion who come to its doors for healing.’ Here at Hadassah, all patients – Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Druse, secular and religious – receive dignified care from a top flight team of equally diverse medical workers. As such, Hadassah is also a bridge to peace. If you need proof of that, look no further than the Syrian children who, in the midst of a horrific humanitarian crisis, have been brought to Hadassah for treatment of congenital heart defects. The Milstein family resonates with that. We, too, are engaged in supporting a multi-faith effort to alleviate the Syrian crisis.
“We couldn’t be more proud of what you’ve done here. On behalf of Abby, Michael, my parents, and the entire Milstein family, thank you for honoring us in this way. May you continue to go from strength to strength.”
Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253268
Additional link:
Heartfelt donation brings a cutting-edge cardiac center to Jerusalem
https://www.timesofisrael.com/heartfelt-donation-brings-a-cutting-edge-cardiac-center-to-jerusalem/
Text of Howard P. Milstein’s Remarks at the Dedication of the Milstein Heart Center, 10/12/18
https://www.howardandabbymilsteinfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/speech-hadassah-hospital-dedication-of-milstein-heart-center-10-18-18.pdf
Paul and Irma Milstein Family Foundation and American Skin Association support development of automated melanoma detector for skin cancer screening
Researchers at The Rockefeller University have developed an automated technology that combines imaging with digital analysis and machine learning to help physicians detect melanoma at its early stages. This work was supported by the Paul and Irma Milstein Family Foundation, with additional support from American Skin Association, whose chairman is Howard P. Milstein, and the National Institutes of Health.
Even experts can be fooled by melanoma. People with this type of skin cancer often have mole-looking growths on their skin that tend to be irregular in shape and color, and can be hard to tell apart from benign ones, making the disease difficult to diagnose. “There is a real need for standardization across the field of dermatology in how melanomas are evaluated,” says James Krueger, D. Martin Carter Professor in Clinical Investigation and head of the Laboratory of Investigative Dermatology. “Detection through screening saves lives but is very challenging visually, and even when a suspicious lesion is extracted and biopsied, it is confirmed to be melanoma in only about 10 percent of cases.”
In the new approach, images of lesions are processed by a series of computer programs that extract information about the number of colors present in a growth, and other quantitative data. The analysis generates an overall risk score, called a Q-score, which indicates the likelihood that the growth is cancerous.
Published in Experimental Dermatology, a recent study evaluating the tool’s usefulness indicates that the Q-score yields 98 percent sensitivity, meaning it is very likely to correctly identify early melanomas on the skin. The ability of the test to correctly diagnose normal moles was 36 percent, approaching the levels achieved by expert dermatologists performing visual examinations of suspect moles under the microscope.
“The success of the Q-score in predicting melanoma is a marked improvement over competing technologies,” says Daniel Gareau, first author of the report and instructor in clinical investigation in the Krueger laboratory.
The researchers developed this tool by feeding 60 photos of cancerous melanomas and an equivalent batch of pictures of benign growths into image processing programs. They developed imaging biomarkers to precisely quantify visual features of the growths.
As previous studies have shown, the number of colors in a lesion turned out to be the most significant biomarker for determining malignancy. And some biomarkers were significant only if looked at in specific color channels—a finding the researchers say could potentially be exploited to identify additional biomarkers and further improve accuracy.
“I think this technology could help detect the disease earlier, which could save lives, and avoid unnecessary biopsies too,” says Gareau. “Our next steps are to evaluate this method in larger studies, and take a closer look at how we can use specific color wavelengths to reveal aspects of the lesions that may be invisible to the human eye, but could still be useful in diagnosis.”
SOURCE: Rockefeller University
Milstein Family Celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the Hall of Ocean Life
It seems like yesterday, but apparently it was 10 years ago. My family was honored to help return the Museum’s legendary blue whale to a spectacularly renovated home, named in honor of my parents, Irma and Paul Milstein. The grand refurbishment of this legendary gallery was led by my mother, Irma Milstein, a longtime Museum Trustee, and my father, Paul. Inspired by memories of their time with children and grandchildren in the so-called Whale Room, our family became dedicated to keeping this hall and its iconic exhibitions accessible, relevant, and enriching for today’s visitors. We hope that the Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life continues to awaken a lifelong love of nature, curiosity about science, and enthusiasm for learning in the millions of visitors who pass through its doors each year.
We also have collaborated with the Museum in expanding public understanding of science and sustainability through innovative programming that draws connections between the content of the Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life and relevant areas of active scientific research. Each year, the Hall hosts the Milstein Science Series. These free weekend programs use the extensive resources and exhibits of the Museum to offer families a day of hands-on learning with talks by expert researchers, opportunities to examine specimens from its unparalleled collections, and other activities that make current scientific research accessible to family audiences. The Hall remains one of the most popular destinations for the nearly 500,000 New York City schoolchildren and their teachers who visit the Museum each year.
Over the past 10 years, the Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life has hosted a wide variety of scientific gatherings and conferences. These range from the Urban Advantage Science Expo, where middle-school students from across New York City present their unique scientific investigations, to the recent 2013 Milstein Science Symposium, “Understanding Ecological and Social Resilience in Island Systems.” As with previous Milstein symposia, this one brought together world-class scientists and policy leaders from across the globe to discuss findings and share recommendations on pressing scientific topics. The Hall has also served as a dramatic venue for high-profile gatherings of world leaders and countless celebrations of weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries.
We are delighted to join the Museum in celebrating this landmark anniversary of the iconic Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life. We are proud that it continues to serve as a unique venue for educating the children of New York City and the public about basic principles of ocean science and conservation, while revealing new discoveries and tools that transform scientific understanding of the marine world. And most of all, that it has remained true to our inscription at its entrance: “Dedicated to understanding and appreciating the wonders and the beauty of the oceans.”
Howard P. Milstein
Paul & Irma Milstein Foundation
Milstein Science Symposium 2013 Presented at American Museum of Natural History
On April 9, 2013, Howard Milstein welcomed participants to the American Museum of Natural History’s Milstein Science Symposium 2013. The subject of the Symposium was “Understanding Ecological and Social Resilience in Island Systems: Informing Policy and Sharing Lessons for Management.” The American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation and its partners organized the three-day symposium that brought together local resource managers, researchers, educators, island leaders, policy makers, and other leading conservation practitioners to present and analyze real-world resilience case studies. Central to the symposium was understanding resilience: the ability of ecological and social systems to absorb, resist, or recover from stressors and adapt to change while maintaining critical ecosystem functions and benefits.
In his remarks before the program began, Howard Milstein recalled the Milstein family’s long association with the Museum. “I’ve always felt at home here, ever since my mother brought us as kids to the Whale Room, a long time before it was the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. And we’ve been privileged to support this museum for two generations,” he said. “Given that long history, it’s a special joy to welcome such a distinguished group of speakers. You’ve come from around the globe to address the theme of islands, a topic that takes on urgency with each shift in climate and ecology, and each shift of the major and minor tectonic plates that undergird many of world’s major islands.”
Island ecosystems present unique challenges for conservation due to distinctive ecological and evolutionary processes and vulnerability to threats. The Milstein Science Symposium explored case studies that exemplify responses to disturbance of change in order to elucidate patterns and processes that foster resilience. Through sharing lessons learned and fostering networks of island managers who are addressing similar challenges, the symposium deepened manager insight into how to promote the resilience of coastal systems, particularly in tropical small island nations, as well as strengthen networks among island leaders, international scientists, and policy makers, paving the way for ongoing collaboration in the future.
The Milstein Science Symposium is proudly sponsored by the Irma and Paul Milstein Family.
Source: American Museum of Natural History
The 2014 Irma and Paul Milstein Program for Senior Health Fellowship and Translational Project Awards
In connection with the commitment to support outstanding medical research related to geriatric medicine and aging research, the Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation (MMAAP) invites the submission of applications from mainland China for:
1) Irma and Paul Milstein Program for Senior Health Fellowship Award to support one year of training at a prominent sponsoring institution in the US for one Chinese scholar in geriatric medicine and aging research
2) Translational Research Project Award of the Irma and Paul Milstein Program for Senior Health to support one such project with potential for immediate impact on improving senior health in China.
The aim of this program is to build an enduring partnership between the United States and Asia through the training of future Chinese academic leaders, and to encourage long-term collaborations between the two regions. The fellowship award will provide support for the fellow in the amount of $60,000, accompanied by a grant of $25,000 to the hosting U.S. institution. The translational project award will provide support for the project to be conducted at applicant’s home institution in China in the amount of $50,000, and support for the U.S. partner institution in the amount of $10,000.
The 2013 Fellowship Award was given to Genxiang Mao, MD, of Zhejiang Provincial Key Lab of Geriatrics at Zhejiang Hospital, for a project entitled “A New Strategy for Delaying Cellular Senescence: Modulating Mitochondrial Biogenesis.” The Translational Research Project Award was given to Peking Union Medical College Hospital, with principal investigator Xiaohong Liu, MD, PhD, for a project entitled “Development of a Chinese At-Home Senior Care Model for Community-Dwelling Disabled Older Adults.” For this first round of MMAAP Foundation awards, Johns Hopkins University will serve as both the hosting institution for the fellow and the partner institution for the translational research project.
The 2014 award application deadline is November 1, 2013. For detailed information including application guidelines and eligibility, please visit www.mmaapf.org.
Click here for a Chinese language version of this announcement.
Contact: Victor Ning, Project Manager, MMAAP Foundation
Phone: 212-850-4505
Email: vning@mmaapf.org
SOURCE: The American Geriatrics Society
Milstein Family Recognized for Generations of Philanthropy
The Milstein family was recently recognized for its long tradition of philanthropy in New York City by The Real Deal: New York City Real Estate News. In the illustration of the connections between the city’s nonprofit institutions and the real estate community accompanying “The Charity Web,” the Milstein family was given a central position. The Real Deal reporter Leigh Kamping-Carter traces the family’s involvement to the founding of Milstein Properties by Paul and Seymour Milstein, which was the basis for “several family foundations that control tens of millions of dollars in charitable wealth.” Kamping-Carter highlights Irma Milstein’s membership on the board of the American Museum of Natural History, where the Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life is located. Paul and Irma’s son, Howard, chairs the boards of the New York Blood Center and American Skin Association and is a member of the boards of Weill Cornell Medical Center and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. Other family members are represented on the boards of the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Opera, New York University, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
For the complete story, click here.
Paul Milstein Hall Receives Prestigious Architecture Award
Paul Milstein Hall at Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP) received a 2013 AIA Institute Honor Award for Architecture. Awarded annually by the American Institute of Architects, the Institute Honor Award is “the profession’s highest recognition of works that exemplify excellence in architecture, interior architecture, and urban design.”
The award citation said of Paul Milstein Hall, “Milstein Hall is the first new building in over 100 years for the renowned College of Architecture, Art and Planning at Cornell University. Rather than creating a new freestanding building, Milstein Hall is an addition to the AAP buildings, creating a unified complex with continuous levels of indoor and outdoor interconnected spaces. Enclosed by floor-to-ceiling glass and a green roof with 41 skylights, this ‘upper plate’ cantilevers almost 50 feet over University Avenue to establish a relationship with the Foundry, a third existing AAP facility.”
One jury member said about Milstein Hall that is “praised by users for its ‘transactional’ qualities: The college’s activities have become far more visually accessible within the Cornell campus; spaces created are connective between Sibley and Rand Halls; and functional relocations—such as the design library—have enhanced communication between student cohorts within the college.” And another said, “The exposed systems and relaxed social ambience tolerate and celebrate the creative clutter created by students.”
“We’re delighted that Milstein Hall has received this high honor,” said Kent Kleinman, the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of AAP. “It is gratifying to all who worked so hard on this project to have the effort validated by this national jury.”
Construction of Paul Milstein Hall, completed in 2012, was made possible by a grant from the Paul and Irma Milstein Foundation. Architect for the project was Rem Koolhaas and the Office of Metropolitan Architecture.
The AIA page devoted to Milstein Hall can be seen here.
SOURCE: Cornell Chronicle, American Institute of Architects
Paul Milstein Hall Celebration Draws Record Number of Cornell Alumni
Paul Milstein Hall of Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP) was the focus of a weekend celebration by alumni, faculty, and students in early March to mark the building’s completion. The highlight of the weekend was a talk on March 9 by internationally renowned architect Rem Koolhaas, who designed Milstein Hall with his Office of Metropolitan Architecture. AAP Dean Kent Kleinman introduced Koolhaas and moderated a Q&A for a capacity audience of nearly 300 in the Abby and Howard Milstein Auditorium and Boardroom.
The building “is both a remarkable accomplishment architecturally and a transformative pedagogical tool,” Kleinman told the Cornell Chronicle. “It is by design that Milstein Hall functions as connective tissue uniting students and faculty across departments. … No contemporary architect, in my mind, other than Rem Koolhaas could have embodied in space and material our complex needs and our aspirational spirit. The transformation of the college is already profound.”
Nearly 500 AAP alumni (a record for a college gathering) were on hand for the weekend’s events, which included an evening dance party on March 10 held in the Sibley Dome and the Milstein Dome, exhibitions by alumni, and a talk on the origins of the Savannah, Georgia, city plan by AAP emeritus professor John Reps and planning professor Michael Tomian.