Chapter 01: A Strong Jewish Family and a Love of Sports
Files
Identifier
MendelsohnJ_01_20050103_C01
Publication Date
1-3-2005
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
John Mendelsohn, MD, Oral History Interview, January 03, 2005
Topics Covered
The Interview Subject's Story - Personal Background; Personal Background; Educational Path; Character, Values, Beliefs, Talents; Influences from People and Life Experiences
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Disciplines
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Oncology | Oral History
Transcript
Lesley Brunet:
: This is Lesley Williams Brunet about to record an interview with Dr. John Mendelsohn, president of UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. The interviewer is James S. Olson, PhD. The date is January 3, 2005. This interview is being recorded in Dr. Mendelsohn’s office in executive offices on the 11th floor of the main building the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
James Olson:
: Lesley is going to want to do another interview with you as part of the oral history archives project. It’s different from what I want to do today. My goal today is to sort of bring you alive in this book, kind of as a man and as a person and things like that.
James Olson:
: So – now you grew up in Cincinnati. Can you tell me what your father did for a living?
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: He was a middleman selling men’s accessories, suspenders, belts, wallets, garters, things like that. Buying from manufacturers and selling to stores. Those were the days when stores needed those kinds of things. Now they’re all chains.
James Olson:
: Kind of a dropper I guess –
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: Yeah, that’s right. Wholesaler. Jobber.
James Olson:
: Now did he travel widely or did he stay home a lot?
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: No, he had to travel. He was probably out 1.5 days a week. Selling. He wasn’t away most of the time. He was home most of the time.
James Olson:
: Now if you go back in your immigrant line, what were your family origins?
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: Immigrant origins are Alsace-Lorraine in the 1830s and 40s. To – since it came from France, to Louisiana. So I have relatives on my father’s side in Shreveport and Baton Rouge and New Orleans and I had a great uncle who was the mayor of Long View, Texas for 16 years. And they were mostly business. Some of the family on my father’s side came from [Yucuma?]. Again, this is German and France. And my mother’s family came here around the same time and there are three or four areas around Munich, around Hesse, came to this country.
James Olson:
: So the Alsaceians got along with the Cajuns there in Louisiana?
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: Evidently. They are Frenchies.
James Olson:
: Right. Good. Now what was your mother’s maiden name?
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: Feibel. FEIBEL.
James Olson:
: Was your mother a homemaker?
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: She was a housewife and very active in volunteer things. She was in the PTA and president of the Temple Sisterhood and very active in the Girl Scouts I think. What’s the thing below Girl Scouts? Brownies. Either them of the Brownies. I can’t remember which. A community person.
James Olson:
: Churched?
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: Jewish. My uncle was a rabbi. Pretty good one. And role model in some ways.
James Olson:
: A mensch?
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: Yeah, a mensch. Very popular rabbi. And my aunt and uncle were very influential in my life.
James Olson:
: In what ways?
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: Well, as role models. He’s a scholar. He translated poetry. His sermons were very scholarly. He would quote books and he would quote the Bible and he would quote books and he would build up a nice rationale for the points he was making. It was based on logic and doing what’s right rather than faith and it’s in the Bible so you have to do it. He was a thinking man. He was from New York and majored in journalism and went on to the Hebrew Union College and became a rabbi. That’s in Cincinnati. He met my aunt and married her in Cincinnati where I grew up.
James Olson:
: Were they Orthodox, Conservative, Reform?
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: No. No. Reform. Very active in the Reform. And his advice that he gave in temple often is something I pass on. Live life so that you can look forward with the greatest possible hopes and look back with the fewest possible regrets. And that, and the golden rule, do not do unto others as you would not have them do unto you. That’s Hillel’s version. That’s all you need. The love thy neighbor as thyself isn’t quite as clear as do not do unto others as you would not have them do onto you.
James Olson:
: There’s that double negative there.
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: It says don’t do it. The Jewish religion is very action oriented.
James Olson:
: What about church on your father’s side?
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: Well, he was – he married into my mother’s family and he went – we went to the Reform Jewish Congregation in Cincinnati. So they were both Jewish by heritage.
James Olson:
: Now when you were growing up, was there – I think you told me last time that you went to that special high school in Cincinnati.
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: Walnut Hills High School.
James Olson:
: Walnut Hills High School.
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: It is a public college preparatory high school that you had to pass a test to get into.
James Olson:
: Unusual for the area. When you were a boy, what did you like doing? If you were going to play? [06:40
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: It was old fashioned in those days. After school, we would hop on our bikes and pick up a baseball game at the park. No organized league. If you were good, you got chosen first, and you weren’t, you got chosen last. It was a meritocracy and you learned a lot from that. As I got older, I was in a lot of after-school activities. I was on the tennis team and participated in various clubs at school. I was editor of the literary journal of the high school. There were fraternities at our high school, and so I joined a fraternity.
James Olson:
: Were they affiliated with regular fraternities?
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: No, these were high school. They were fun. And lots of – we had – we attended lots of athletic events at the high school. It was a lot of spirit in Cincinnati competing in football and basketball.
James Olson:
: Did you compete in – did the high school compete in the regular school league?
John Mendelsohn, MD:
: Mm-hmm. Sure. And we were sort of the eggheads, it was fun because we had good teams. We did well.
Recommended Citation
Mendelsohn, John MD, "Chapter 01: A Strong Jewish Family and a Love of Sports" (2005). Interview Chapters. 1443.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1443
Conditions Governing Access
Open
