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Lee Lipsenthal MD

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A truly great man left our world recently. Lee Lipsenthal was a medical pioneer and one of the warmest, loving people I have had the pleasure of knowing. I met him through my affiliation with the Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease. He was their medical director. He also was the President of the American Board of Holistic Medicine (ABHM) of which I am a member. He taught doctors how to find balance and happiness in their lives and careers (a noble and very challenging task). He exuded a warmth, love and kindness that is extremely rare in the medical world. He genuinely wanted to make medicine better and I strongly believe he did. He pioneered movements in patient care in the Ornish program (empowering patients through improving their daily lifestyles and addressing their emotional and spiritual lives) and promoted physician well-being during a time that this was just not valued by the modern medical world. These extremely challenging ventures were bold and strong but always done with a loving, kind heart which just was Lee.

In his dying days during his time with cancer, he wrote a great book which I highly recommend to everyone. Enjoy Every Sandwich is a great read about living, dying in peace, and is delivered in a style that is who Lee was: loving, caring, gentle and compassionate. The title is interesting given his years in the Ornish program which espouses a vegetarian diet. He obviously valued the other components of the program (exercise, yoga and meditation, and group support and connection) more than the rigid, dietary advice. He lived his life and preaches in his memoir the search for peace, contentment, love and connection. He clearly values these more than any kind of rigidity or rule for living. I could not agree more and appreciate his boldness and honesty in leaving this world with his true, heartfelt beliefs clearly delineated. We need this kind of authenticity and honesty. He was and is a hero in my mind and heart. I feel for his wife and kids and all that will miss him terribly but I also believe with all my heart that what he gave our world during his time on this planet was so rich and so real that I hope his memory will sustain them all while they are missing him so deeply. Thank you Lee for sharing your giant heart with me and our world.

Comments

Anonymous said…
A sweet and fitting tribute to a very special spirit. I too am honored to have been touched by his warm and loving kindness... B
February 27, 2012 at 11:49 AM
Cindy Lorenz said…
Dr.Kalina, This is beautifully-written and powerfully inspirational (as is your entire blog, by the way). I hope we as humans find more effective ways to sustain the memories and, especially, the sense of relevance of people like Dr. Lipsenthal: people who may not be THE one or two "BIG" names behind a movement, discovery, etc, but who were, arguably, just as passionate, influential, accomplished, and, yes, important! There have been so many powerful contributors to all fields, and who knows which of those slightly obscure, but no-less-extraordinary names might inspire one of today's young people to build on a great legacy.
Love what you stand for!
-Cindy Lorenz, Maryland
January 21, 2013 at 9:35 AM
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