Dr. Karolina Borman was born on Apr. 9, 1922, in Warsaw, Poland, to Jan Borman and Rinka Dobrejcer, and has a younger sister, Irena Bakowska. Dr. Borman went to science lyceum at the age of 15 and received a matura in 1939. After the German invaded Poland, she and her family lived in their original domicile in what had become the ghetto, where she worked in her father’s dental laboratory. In 1940 she went to the underground medical school in the ghetto and finished two years of medical study. In 1942 the ghetto was burned, and her family was arrested and taken to the Umschlagplatz, where they escaped from being sent to the concentration camp and went back to the Warsaw ghetto. She lived in hiding in the ghetto until she managed to work on a German farm as a Polish worker till the end of the war. Liberated on Nov. 13, 1944, in France by American troops, she stayed in France and worked in the Red Cross. She resumed her medical education in Poland and acquired her diploma in 1950. She married to an American citizen, emigrated, and practised medicine in the United States until her death in 1987.
Elisabeth Dorothea Bing (nee Koenigsberger) was born 8 July 1914, in Gruenau, a suburb of Berlin. She trained as a physical therapist in England after her family fled Nazi Germany due to her Jewish ancestry. Her interest in obstetrics began after working with new mothers.
In 1949, she moved to the United States to practice and promote natural childbirth methods. She co-founded the American Society for Psychoprophylaxis in Obstetrics (now Lamaze International) and is known as “the mother of Lamaze”. Bing advocated for the importance of mothers to make informed childbirth decisions and was regarded as a pioneer in pregnancy and childbirth education. She wrote several books, including “Six Practical Lessons for an Easier Childbrith”, and she was featured in the 1975 documentary “Giving Birth: Four Portraits”.
In 1951, she married Fred Max Bing and had a son, Peter, at 40, to which she wrote about her experience as an older mother.
Elisabeth Bing passed on May 15, 2015, at the age of 100.
John Bienenstock (1937-2022), born in Budapest, Hungary in 1936, was an internationally recognized physician, scientist, and academic.
Bienenstock earned his medical degree from King’s College London and Westminster Hospital Medical School in 1960, followed by a postdoctoral term at Harvard University. In 1968, he joined McMaster University’s new medical school, where he played a pivotal role in its development. He served as Chair of the Department of Pathology from 1978 to 1989, co-founded the Society for Mucosal Immunology in 1985, and served as Dean and Vice-President of the Faculty of Health Sciences from 1989 to 1996. Even after his official retirement in 1998, he continued his research as Director of the McMaster Brain Body Institute at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton until his death in 2022.
Bienenstock became a prominent figure in mucosal immunology, introducing the concept of a common mucosal immune system. He also made significant contributions to neuroimmunology, exploring the interactions between the brain and nervous system. His prolific career included over 500 peer-reviewed articles and 10 books, including a standard textbook on mucosal immunology and allergy. He mentored over 60 postdoctoral fellows and 10 doctoral students.
Bienenstock’s achievements earned him numerous honors, including becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1992, a McMaster Distinguished University Professor in 1999, a Member of the Order of Canada in 2002, and induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2011. He also received an honorary MD from Goteborg, Sweden, and joined the Faculty of Health Sciences Community of Distinction in 2014.
Terry Bellavance was born in Follyette, Ontario, in 1950 and moved to Lugama at the age of 2, before settling in Geraldton. At the age of 5, Terry suffered a severe burn injury, which was initially treated by two doctors on a train before being transferred to Sudbury General Hospital for further care.
By the age of 14, Terry was working as a bull cook, and at 16, took on the role of a fireman for the Ministry of Natural Resources. Terry began studying Structural Engineering at Lakehead University but later decided to switch majors. On June 15, 1968, a car accident resulted in spinal cord damage, leading to an 11-month recovery period at St. Joseph's Hospital, following initial treatment at Port Arthur General Hospital. Terry was then transferred to Lyndhurst Lodge before returning to university to study General Arts, while living with a family friend.
During this time, Terry underwent an ileo conduit operation. Terry then secured a position as a Research Assistant or Coordinator at the Lakehead Social Planning Council. It was in 1969/1970 that Terry met their future spouse, and the couple moved in together, eventually marrying in 1972.
In the 1970s, Terry was actively involved with the Handicapped Action Group and successfully secured Local Initiative Program grants. Additionally, Terry played a key role in organizing a conference with the Canadian Paraplegic Association (CPA). Due to an infection, Terry had a leg amputated, resulting in a year of bed care in 1979, followed by the amputation of the other leg in 1981.
Professionally, Terry contributed as a development consultant for Castle Green Co-op and Spiritview Housing Co-op and later became the Regional Director of March of Dimes. Terry and their spouse adopted children, enriching their family life.
Terry passed away in 1999.
Dr. Ronald Bayne was born on January 25, 1923, and became a pivotal figure in advancing care for older adults and geriatric medicine in Canada. Following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. Henry Douglas Bayne, Ronald graduated from McGill University’s medical school in 1947. After completing his internship at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, he pursued advanced training at the New England Medical Centre in Boston (1950) and at the West Middlesex Hospital in England (1951-1955), where he worked with Dr. Marjory Warren, a leading pioneer in British geriatrics.
Bayne returned to Quebec in 1955, practicing as a general practitioner in Sherbrooke before moving to Montreal in 1959, where he became Chief of Medicine at Ste. Anne’s Hospital for veterans. His academic career flourished when he joined McGill’s Faculty of Medicine as a lecturer in psychiatry un Dr. Travis Duncey. In 1970, Dr. Bayne transitioned to McMaster University in Hamilton, becoming a professor of medicine, a role he held until his retirement in 1989.
A dedicated advocate for gerontology, Dr. Bayne co-authored a monograph on patient-directed care with sociologist Joseph Lella in 1986 and led the Canadian Association on Gerontology from 1983 to 1987. He was instrumental in founding the McMaster Office on Aging (1979), later known as the McMaster Centre for Gerontological Studies (1985), which merged with the Department of Health, Aging, and Society in 2006.
Dr. Bayne’s legacy includes innovative contributions such as the Assessment and Placement Service (APS), which laid the groundwork for Ontario’s Community Care and Access Centres, providing essential care for elderly and chronically ill populations. Dr. Ronald Bayne passed away on February 6, 2021, at the age of 97, leaving behind a lasting impact on the field of geriatric care and education.
Dr. Marek (Marc) Balin was born in Warsaw, Poland on July 5th, 1918, to Adam Balin and Paulina Kijewska. Dr. Balin went to the medical school of Sorbonne University in Paris, France before being called back to Warsaw by the Polish Embassy in 1939. He worked at the Jewish Hospital (Czyste Hospital) in the Warsaw ghetto as an in-house staff after the invasion and continued his medical training in the Warsaw ghetto underground medical school from May 1941 to July 1942, when the massive deportations began. Having managed to escape from the Treblinka deportations, he was sheltered in Warsaw until the liberation of the city in 1945. Dr. Balin obtained his MD at the University of Warsaw in 1948 and then a diploma in anesthesiology at the University of Paris. in 1956, Dr. Balin moved to Cleveland, U. S., where he became a Lake County Memorial Hospital physician and anesthesiologist, got married, and had two daughters (Paulette Balin Yasinow and Joyce Fried). Dr. Balin died in 2006 of a stroke.
Irena was born as Irena Borman in Warsaw, Poland in 1924, to Jan Bakowski and Helena Dobrejcer, who were both dentists. She was raised and educated in Warsaw until the war interrupted her high school education. To hide her Jewish identity, she assumed the name of Irena Bakowska throughout the war. Irena received her Lyceum education in an underground school in Warsaw and earned her Certificate of Maturity (i.e., Baccalaureate degree) In 1941. From 1941 to 1942, she studied in the underground medical school in the Warsaw ghetto as a medical student. During the massive deportations she and her family managed to get out of the ghetto and went to Zakrzowek, a village in Lublin. In January 1943, she was deported to a slave labour on a German farm in Lorraine. Surviving the war, Irena received education in France as a lawyer, and then migrated to the United States in 1955, where she continued her studies in law and as a librarian. Irena spent the last two decades of her professional career as a professor of Law and Law Librarian at Queen's University, Faculty of Law, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Vicky (Pulver) Bach was a clinical nurse specialist with expertise in gerontology, medicine, and palliative care.
Vicky was born on July 1, 1951 in Barbados to Jewish Romanian parents. Six years later, in 1957, she and her family emigrated to Montreal, Quebec. In 1967, Vicky graduated from high school and entered the workforce, holding secretarial positions at various companies. Five years later, in 1972, she married Joshua Bach and moved with him to Windsor, Ontario, where he attended law school and she continued to work as a secretary. After his graduation, in 1977, they moved to Oakville, then to Hamilton. They were joined the following year by Vicky’s sister, Molly, and her husband. Between 1978 and 1987, Vicky and Molly pursued a freelance typesetting and graphic arts business. During this time, Vicky gave birth to two daughters: Sarah, in 1981, and Eva, in 1986. She also volunteered in the emergency department at McMaster University Medical Centre.
Between 1987 and 1993, Vicky completed a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at McMaster, graduating with the highest standing in her class. For the next twelve and a half years, Vicky was employed with Shalom Village, a Jewish non-profit organization in Hamilton that provides services for older adults of all religions, including senior’s apartments and long-term care. There, she held a number of positions including Program Director, Director of Resident Services, Chaplaincy Nurse, and Acting Director of Care. During this time, Vicky became certified in long-term care management and as a parish nurse, and received training in palliative care.
Between 2001 and 2005, Vicky completed a Master of Science in Nursing at McMaster, focusing on decision-making in palliative care. In 2006, she left Hamilton and moved to Abbotsford, British Columbia, where she was employed with the Fraser Health Authority as a clinical nurse specialist, first in Residential Contracts & Services, then in the Older Adult Program, and finally in the Medicine Program. Specialising in acute geriatrics and clinical practice guideline development, Vicky developed documentation and acute staff education related to quality of care, transitions, care planning, care pathways, and nursing ethics. She also served as Adjunct Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Her professional involvement included serving as Chair of the Clinical Nurse Specialist Association of British Columbia and as a member of the British Columbia Ministry of Health Seniors’ Hospital Care Working Group.
In July 2013, Vicky was diagnosed ALS, and resigned from her position with the Fraser Health Authority that October. She died on December 31, 2014 at the age of sixty-three.