Parker (I always used his last name) and I grew up together, elementary school through high school. We lived less than a block apart. We would make plans to go bowling, or someplace else, and often he was a few minutes late getting to my house. He had stopped and played with one of the little kids or babies he had passed by on the way over. He loved little kids. About 35 years later he became good friends with Dr. Benjamin Spock and co-authored the 1998 edition of Baby and Child Care, the last one that Spock would write.
Parker and I played a lot of sports- baseball, tennis, bowling, billiards in my basement, ice hockey in my backyard which we froze to make a rink. We were together on the Mumford debate team. Then he went back East to college, I went to Chicago , and we lost touch. Then around 1980 after graduating from U of M Med School he began his internship at Stanford Hospital and I saw him again. I had moved down to Palo Alto from Seattle with my wife in 1970. He rented a tiny house near Downtown and rode his bike to Stanford. He enjoyed his time here but decided to go back East. His passion, his intelligence, his sense of humor, all combined to make him so successful and renowned in his field of pediatrics.
Although I only knew Steve in passing, I will always remember him as a loyal, caring, and compassionate individual, who always seemed to make time for everyone. He will be missed!
Parker - that's what we called him. He and Marc Cohen were a team at MacDowell. Every girl including me was secrely in love with him and why not? Handsome, kind, a real leader and so comfortable in his own skin. He is missed.
Steve Parker was my best friend at Mumford and throughout life. I know that many others considered him their best friend as well, a measure of his gift for empathy and the extraordinary interest he took in the lives of his friends, colleagues and patients.
Steve and I met through our older brothers, Harvey Pianin and Phil Parker, before we began high school. And except for Steve's failure to invite me to his Bar Mitzvah, our friendship blossomed over the years. We loved the same movies and sports, we shared a similar irreverent sense of humor, we regularly made late night dashes downtown to Greektown to buy Coney island hotdogs, and we double dated a lot on weekends (with two great artists, Meridel Rubenstein and Donna Rae Hirt).
Steve was dubbed "Das Wunderkind" by one of our German teachers, and the title fit. He seemed to effortlessly cruise through school with all A's (one area where we differed considerably). And his method for studying for big tests -- which annoyed me to no end -- centered on taking a hot bath and going to bed early the night before.
While excelling at academics, Steve also was on the varsity tennis team, the year book staff and a bunch of other activities. He was probably the most popular kid in our class, and had a way of putting people at ease -- much like his father, Hyman Parker, who was a prominent lawyer and state labor mediator.
After graduation from Mumford, we stayed in touch throughout college, grad school and beyond (although Steve pretty much disappeared for a year after Cornell as he traveled around the world.) Steve eventually landed in Boston, where he studied as a fellow with T. Berry Brazelton, a prominent child psychologist, and he later married the wonderful Karen Kemper, a therapist who worked with young women.
Steve was one of the most talented and accomplished people I knew. And at the height of his career as a pediatrician and child psychologist at the Boston Medical Center, he was co-author with Dr. Benjamin Spock of the last major revision of Spock's classic baby and child care book.
That was a real coup for Steve that got him a lot of national media attention, althought it wasn't always the easiest of collaborations. Steve and Spock didn't see eye to eye on a number of issues, including child nutrition. But as Steve wrote in the forward to the 1998 edition, he considered it an extraordinary honor and privilege to help Spock revise "his masterpiece."
Steve traveled a great deal for both business and pleasure, and he had a passion for national politics -- something we discussed at length during his visits to Washington, D.C., where he stayed with me and my family. Even if we hadn't seen each other for quite a while, we had the ability to pick up the conversation pretty much where we had left off.
Steve for years battled a rare form of cancer, and he used experimental drugs to greatly defy the odds. He always seemed upbeat and optimistic. The cancer finally caught up to him and he died suddenly on April 13, 2009.
The last time I saw him, he was in Washington to give a speech. Steve was very excited about his new venture giving on-line advice to parents on WebMD. We talked at length about that, my experiences at The Washington Post, and a lot of other things over lunch at a Middle Eastern restaurant on a wonderfully balmy, pleasant afternoon. Then I walked him back to his hotel and said goodbye.
I think Steve would have had a blast at our 50th class reunion. I'm going to miss him a lot.
Kenneth Bertin (1964)
Pure class.
Lewis Elbinger (1964)
Blessings from Mount Shasta, California.
Steve was one of my best friends in high school, along with Eric (Ricky) Pianin.
He said that he wanted to live to be 100.
I can feel him here with me now, laughing.
We live in an amazing world.
Lewis (Lee) Elbinger
Marc Cohen (1964)
Parker (I always used his last name) and I grew up together, elementary school through high school. We lived less than a block apart. We would make plans to go bowling, or someplace else, and often he was a few minutes late getting to my house. He had stopped and played with one of the little kids or babies he had passed by on the way over. He loved little kids. About 35 years later he became good friends with Dr. Benjamin Spock and co-authored the 1998 edition of Baby and Child Care, the last one that Spock would write.
Parker and I played a lot of sports- baseball, tennis, bowling, billiards in my basement, ice hockey in my backyard which we froze to make a rink. We were together on the Mumford debate team. Then he went back East to college, I went to Chicago , and we lost touch. Then around 1980 after graduating from U of M Med School he began his internship at Stanford Hospital and I saw him again. I had moved down to Palo Alto from Seattle with my wife in 1970. He rented a tiny house near Downtown and rode his bike to Stanford. He enjoyed his time here but decided to go back East. His passion, his intelligence, his sense of humor, all combined to make him so successful and renowned in his field of pediatrics.
He is greatly missed.
Michael Goldstein (1965)
Although I only knew Steve in passing, I will always remember him as a loyal, caring, and compassionate individual, who always seemed to make time for everyone. He will be missed!
Jill Green (Greenberg) (1964)
Parker - that's what we called him. He and Marc Cohen were a team at MacDowell. Every girl including me was secrely in love with him and why not? Handsome, kind, a real leader and so comfortable in his own skin. He is missed.
Eric Pianin (1964)
Steve Parker was my best friend at Mumford and throughout life. I know that many others considered him their best friend as well, a measure of his gift for empathy and the extraordinary interest he took in the lives of his friends, colleagues and patients.
Steve and I met through our older brothers, Harvey Pianin and Phil Parker, before we began high school. And except for Steve's failure to invite me to his Bar Mitzvah, our friendship blossomed over the years. We loved the same movies and sports, we shared a similar irreverent sense of humor, we regularly made late night dashes downtown to Greektown to buy Coney island hotdogs, and we double dated a lot on weekends (with two great artists, Meridel Rubenstein and Donna Rae Hirt).
Steve was dubbed "Das Wunderkind" by one of our German teachers, and the title fit. He seemed to effortlessly cruise through school with all A's (one area where we differed considerably). And his method for studying for big tests -- which annoyed me to no end -- centered on taking a hot bath and going to bed early the night before.
While excelling at academics, Steve also was on the varsity tennis team, the year book staff and a bunch of other activities. He was probably the most popular kid in our class, and had a way of putting people at ease -- much like his father, Hyman Parker, who was a prominent lawyer and state labor mediator.
After graduation from Mumford, we stayed in touch throughout college, grad school and beyond (although Steve pretty much disappeared for a year after Cornell as he traveled around the world.) Steve eventually landed in Boston, where he studied as a fellow with T. Berry Brazelton, a prominent child psychologist, and he later married the wonderful Karen Kemper, a therapist who worked with young women.
Steve was one of the most talented and accomplished people I knew. And at the height of his career as a pediatrician and child psychologist at the Boston Medical Center, he was co-author with Dr. Benjamin Spock of the last major revision of Spock's classic baby and child care book.
That was a real coup for Steve that got him a lot of national media attention, althought it wasn't always the easiest of collaborations. Steve and Spock didn't see eye to eye on a number of issues, including child nutrition. But as Steve wrote in the forward to the 1998 edition, he considered it an extraordinary honor and privilege to help Spock revise "his masterpiece."
Steve traveled a great deal for both business and pleasure, and he had a passion for national politics -- something we discussed at length during his visits to Washington, D.C., where he stayed with me and my family. Even if we hadn't seen each other for quite a while, we had the ability to pick up the conversation pretty much where we had left off.
Steve for years battled a rare form of cancer, and he used experimental drugs to greatly defy the odds. He always seemed upbeat and optimistic. The cancer finally caught up to him and he died suddenly on April 13, 2009.
The last time I saw him, he was in Washington to give a speech. Steve was very excited about his new venture giving on-line advice to parents on WebMD. We talked at length about that, my experiences at The Washington Post, and a lot of other things over lunch at a Middle Eastern restaurant on a wonderfully balmy, pleasant afternoon. Then I walked him back to his hotel and said goodbye.
I think Steve would have had a blast at our 50th class reunion. I'm going to miss him a lot.
Eric Pianin
Leonard Sahn (1964)
Steve and I were in the same class at U of M Medical School. All around great guy, that's all.