Eric J. Russell, M.D., F.A.C.R.
Radiata then asked a few of the people mentioned by Dr. Russell to contribute their memories and insights.
On a kind and gentle note Dr. Irvin Kricheff writes:
Eric was an outstanding and hardworking fellow who always put the patient first, yet he was academically productive. He was intellectually superior, while at the same time humble and warm. Eric was well liked and respected by everyone with whom he came in contact. He has managed his career with quality and integrity.
Eric is a supportive husband and father with a mutually supportive successful pediatric radiologist wife, Sandy, and two lovely daughters.
On a note which will entertain the Northwestern housestaff and faculty Dr. Bob Zimmerman writes:
Eric is known to his friends and colleagues as diligent and some would say compulsive person. His method for solving problems is to worry them to death. He will present a situation as an intractable problem but after a time he inevitably comes up with a solution. He is the kind of guy who takes his problems everywhere with him; not only home but on vacations and on business trips. He takes them with him not just metaphorically but literally. He carries a brief case stuffed with notes and data everywhere; he even takes it with him when we play golf (but to his credit I have never seen him start reviewing data while in the middle of a round of golf).
Two years ago at the AUR meeting in Miami we decided to go to a Marlins/Mets baseball game. About 8 of us stuffed ourselves into a rental car (Eric was driving—he always wants to drive). When we arrived at the stadium, Eric picked up his briefcase and took it with him to the gate (why he had it in the car in the first place is a mystery). This resulted in the usual number of rude jokes that this behavior always elicits from his friends.
Eric bought the tickets and distributed them to the rest of us. He stated that there seemed to be an extra ticket but I said that one of the “tickets” was actually the credit card receipt. We got to the gate and Eric was informed by the security guard that he could not take his briefcase into the stadium. Looking stricken, he turned and trudged back towards the car telling the rest of us to go ahead without him. I told him to make sure he had an actual ticket and not just the credit card receipt but he walked off without answering. We went into the stadium and realized that he had in fact taken the receipt not the ticket. We enjoyed debating whether to simply go to our seats and let him suffer the further humiliation of coming back to the gate only to be turned away again.
Now, it is not the practice of our circle of friends (golfing buddies for the most part) to go easy on a friend. Every flaw, every mistake, and every quirk is highlighted, magnified and dissected. But in this case, we could not bring ourselves to walk away and leave Eric literally standing at the gate. So we waited for him. Besides, if we had not waited we would not have had the opportunity to see the expression on his face when he realized he did not have a ticket.
And Dr. Ajax George offers his memories of the fateful chess tournament:
Eric, by the way, is multi-talented with many varied interests. Back in the days when Eric and I played chess together we were, in fact, pupils of the grandmaster Bruce Pandolfini. At one point we even thought of joining the elite Marshall chess club in Manhattan. Towards that end Eric visited the club to enquire about membership and was asked to play an 11 year old member, as a kind of audition. You can imagine the massacre that followed. Lucky for all of us Eric decided to stick to Neuroradiology.
Grandmaster Pandolfini, and the 11 year old chess prodigy, declined being interviewed for this article.
<< Previous Page
Page:
1
1
3