Paul Goldhaber, 84; dean revamped dental education

PAUL GOLDHABER

Sixty years ago, Dr. Paul Goldhaber sat waiting for his diploma in a commencement ceremony that, as one alumnus had told him, was more of an escape from dental school than a graduation.

"Teaching by terror" was the norm, Dr. Goldhaber recalled on June 1, during his address to graduates of the School of Dentistry at the University of California at Los Angeles, and students were reduced "to quivering masses of protoplasm."

Those lessons were not lost on him when he had the opportunity to chart a new course for dental education during 22 years as dean of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, becoming part of what he called "the era of enlightenment" in teaching and clinical practice.

Dr. Goldhaber, the first Jewish dean at Harvard and a mentor to leaders of dental schools across the country, died Monday in Brigham and Women's Hospital of complications of pancreatic cancer. He was 84 and lived in the Waban neighborhood of Newton.

"There's just an incredible number of leaders throughout the United States in dentistry and dental education who viewed Paul Goldhaber as their personal mentor and as their role model," said Dr. Charles N. Bertolami, dean of the New York University College of Dentistry. "He elevated the stature of dentistry within the university as both a learned profession and a caring profession."

Dr. Bruce Donoff, who succeeded Dr. Goldhaber as dean of Harvard's School of Dental Medicine, said Dr. Goldhaber was "truly a giant in the field of dental education and research. He firmly believed that science and discovery and research should be part of dental practice and dental education, and he did a number of things that were well ahead of their time."

Among the changes at Harvard during Dr. Goldhaber's tenure as dean were the development of a four-year program leading to a doctorate of medical sciences in oral biology; five- and six-year programs for oral and maxillofacial surgery, general surgery, and a medical degree; and three- and four-year joint-degree programs that combine advanced clinical training and research in healthcare systems, health policy, or biomedical sciences.

His mere presence in a dean's office at Harvard was a major development.

"I was the first Jew in Harvard University's 332 years of existence to become dean of one of its schools," he said six weeks ago during the commencement address at the UCLA School of Dentistry.

In a 1991 interview with the Globe, Dr. Goldhaber invoked the name of the player who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball and said simply, "I like to call myself the Jackie Robinson of Harvard University."

"He believed that was the most important accomplishment of his life, not only for his own personal promotion, but for what it did for Jews," Dr. Samuel Z. Goldhaber of Chestnut Hill said of his father.

The eldest of three sons born to Polish immigrants, Dr. Goldhaber grew up in New York City, in Brooklyn and the Bronx, speaking Yiddish as his first language until he began attending school. World War II had begun by the time he graduated from Townsend Harris High School in New York City.

He joined the US Army and was chosen for the Specialized Training Program, which funneled academically talented enlistees into colleges during wartime. Because of that program, he received his degrees in a different order than usual. Dr. Goldhaber graduated from the New York University College of Dentistry in 1948. Leaving the Army as a first lieutenant in the Dental Corps after the Korean War, he completed his undergraduate work at City College of New York in 1954, the same year he finished specialty training in periodontology at Columbia University.

While still in the Army and college, he met Ethel Renee Gurland, whom he married in 1949.

"My father was a dentist, and one of his patients was a young man who wanted to be a dentist," she said of her husband. The couple met through friends, she added, "and that was that."

Dr. Goldhaber arrived at Harvard as a research assistant in 1954 and was a full professor by 1966, becoming dean of the dental school two years later. He retired as dean emeritus in 1990 and continued to teach for many years.

Although he later would help reshape dental education, Dr. Goldhaber initially was a top scientist who published in elite journals and whose research laid the foundation for advances in bone biology and dental implants, said Dr. No-Hee Park, dean of the UCLA School of Dentistry and a former student of Dr. Goldhaber's.

"He just redefined the meaning of research in dentistry," Park said.

Samuel Goldhaber said that as an educator, his father wanted his students "to do good things."

"It could be doing something in government, or starting a community clinic, or being involved in public policy," his son said. "He wanted people to reach out and strive to do the best they could for society."

Academia was the destination for a lot of Dr. Goldhaber's students, and Park noted that "under his tutelage, many, many people became leaders in dental education and also in medical education. His great legacy is people, leaders. I was greatly inspired by him. Without him, I couldn't be here now. Maybe I could be a small, practicing dentist."

Near the end of his speech in Los Angeles last month, Dr. Goldhaber recalled that as a child he played football in a neighborhood cemetery to avoid holding games in a nearby empty lot that was littered with rocks and broken glass. An inscription on one gravestone stayed with him through the years:

As you are now so once was I; as I am now, so will you be

"My own interpretation is that each of us has a limited amount of time on this Earth, so don't waste it," he advised the UCLA dental graduates.

"He always exuded an aura of honesty and integrity in that everything about one's role in life should be based on two principles," Dr. Joshua I. Goldhaber of Los Angeles said of his father. "If you were honest and worked hard, you would be rewarded in the end."

In addition to his wife and two sons, Dr. Goldhaber leaves two brothers, Stanley of Port Washington, N.Y., and Norman of Boynton Beach, Fla.; two granddaughters; and two grandsons.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Chestnut Hill. Burial will be in Sharon Memorial Park in Sharon.