Dr. Edward Newman, 89, Chicago's doctor to the stars -- show business, politics and big business
Hoodoo
EDWARD NEWMAN | 1921-2010: 'Icon in Chicago medicine' treated stars,
doormen -- and patients had his home number
May 25, 2010
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
http://www.suntimes.com/news/obituaries/2312010,CST-NWS-xnewman25.article
http://www.suntimes.com/news/obituaries/2311556,052510xnewman.fullimage
Jackie Gleason, Jack Benny, Sammy Davis Jr., Bill Cosby, legendary Bears
quarterback Sid Luckman and Chicago Sun-Times columnist Irv Kupcinet
were all his patients. So was Mayor Richard M. Daley and most of the
doormen on Michigan Avenue.
If Chicago had a doctor to the stars -- of show business, politics and
big business -- Edward Newman was that physician.
Dr. Edward Newman practiced for 45 years at Michael Reese Hospital, then
moved on to Northwestern.
But Dr. Newman didn't just treat the stars as they passed through
Chicago. They called for his sage advice after they left the city -- and
kept on calling until his death. Dr. Newman even got credit for
inspiring Cosby's son to study hard in the comedian's book Fatherhood.
Dr. Newman, 89, died of natural causes at his Chicago home on Saturday.
It was the end of a remarkable life for a man known to his colleagues as
an "icon in Chicago medicine."
"The people who knew him had total respect for his judgment and his
integrity. They believed in him. He was a great physician. He listened
to his patients. He was a champion of confidentiality," said Dr. Steven
Newman, an oncologist who is Edward's son.
Long before the term "access to care" was in political vogue, Edward
Newman was blazing the trail, according to his son.
"He invented access to care. Now, there are committees at hospitals
where they talk about access to care. But Dad's idea of access to care
was every patient had his home phone number -- and they used it. They
knew he was available for them. He was their doctor," Steven Newman said.
Edward Newman was born on Feb. 1, 1921, at Michael Reese Hospital, where
he would go on to practice exclusively for 45 years. He then went to
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he remained until he retired in 2002.
His grandfather was Chicago businessman and philanthropist Bernard
Horwich, a member of the First Zionist Congress. A Jewish community
center at 3033 W. Touhy in Chicago is named after Horwich.
Edward Newman's father, Samuel, was a Chicago real estate developer who
died of a heart attack when Edward was just 12 years old.
Mary Ann Moseley, Edward Newman's daughter, said her father "knew the
name of every doorman on the Near North Side and the name of every
waitress of every restaurant we frequented" because he treated nearly
every one of them. But she will remember him most for his "blunt honesty."
"He never censored anything. He told you exactly what he thought. He
would say the exact thing that was in his head," Moseley said.
"It was not easy being his child. He set the bar really high and
expected you to live up to his expectations. He wasn't a man who would
say, 'I love you' or hug you or express pride to you directly, but you
knew."
Ten years ago, Mayor Daley was a target of Dr. Newman's brutal honesty.
The mayor was rushed to the hospital with what he thought was a heart
attack. It turned out to be hypertension. When Dr. Newman discovered
that it had been a decade since Daley's last physical, he ordered a
two-day battery of tests before releasing the mayor.
"When the iron is hot, you grab it," Dr. Newman said then. "Here we have
a man who has avoided physicians. I can't say he disliked doctors, but
he didn't care to be prodded and poked. We had a captive audience and we
kept him."
Daley praised Dr. Newman as not only an "outstanding physician but a
wonderful man."
"His easy bedside manner was just one part of a great personality that
seemed to endear him -- not only to his patients, but everyone he knew,"
the mayor said.
"He was a good friend to the Daley family, and he will be missed."
Other survivors include his second wife, Lori; another daughter, Nancy
Halbeck, and eight grandchildren.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Chicago Sinai Congregation,
15 W. Delaware Place.
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