Alan Berkman (September 4, 1945 – June 5, 2009) was an American

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and activist in the Students for a Democratic Society and Weather Underground who went to prison for his involvement in a number of robberies staged by the organizations and their offshoots. Released after eight years in prison for armed robbery and explosives possession, Berkman provided medical care to the homeless and founded Health GAP to help provide AIDS pharmaceuticals to some of the world's poorest nations.

Biography

Berkman was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and moved with his family to

Middletown, Orange County, New York Middletown is a city in Orange County, New York, United States. It lies in New York's Hudson Valley region, near the Wallkill River and the foothills of the Shawangunk Mountains. Middletown is situated between Port Jervis and Newburgh, New Yo ...

. He was an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...

who graduated as the

salutatorian Salutatorian is an academic title given in the United States, Armenia, and the Philippines to the second-highest-ranked graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. This honor is tradi ...

of his high school class. He earned his undergraduate degree at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, graduating as an honor student in 1967. Berkman received his medical training at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, which he completed in 1971.Hevesi, Dennis
"Alan Berkman, 63, Activist Doctor, Dies"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', June 14, 2009. Accessed June 14, 2009. His politics and practice of medicine often overlapped, including his treatment of prisoners after the September 1971 Attica riots. He and his wife evaded the cordon established by the

United States Marshals Service The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforceme ...

during the

Wounded Knee incident The Wounded Knee Occupation, also known as Second Wounded Knee, began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota (sometimes referred to as Oglala Sioux) and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied ...

in 1973.Hoffman, Jan
"Healing on Parole; Doctor and Ex-Prisoner, He Treats Others on Probation"
''

'', January 10, 1994. Accessed June 15, 2009.

Brinks robbery and life on the run

The

Black Liberation Army The Black Liberation Army (BLA) was a far-left, black nationalist, underground Black Power revolutionary paramilitary organization that operated in the United States from 1970 to 1981. Composed of former Black Panthers (BPP) and Republic of Ne ...

and

May 19th Communist Movement The May 19th Communist Organization (also variously referred to as the May 19 Coalition, May 19 Communist Coalition or M19CO) was a US-based far-left armed terrorist group formed by members of the Weather Underground Organization. The group was ...

had organized the October 20, 1981, Brinks robbery in Nanuet, New York, in which $1.6 million was taken from a Brink's armored car. An armored car guard was killed during the robbery. In a shootout shortly after the heist, two police officers were killed. A witness told a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

that Berkman had treated one of the holdup group's members for a gunshot wound. Berkman refused to talk and spent almost a year in jail for civil contempt. Indicted as an accessory after the fact, Berkman jumped bail and went underground. Berkman's lawyers claimed that he was the only U.S. doctor to be charged for treating a fugitive since Dr.

Samuel Mudd Samuel Alexander Mudd Sr. (December 20, 1833 – January 10, 1883) was an American physician who was imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth concerning the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Mudd worked as a doctor and tobacco fa ...

was charged and later convicted for his medical treatment of John Wilkes Booth in 1865 after the Abraham Lincoln assassination. On the run, Berkman was involved in the gunpoint robbery of a

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

supermarket that netted more than $20,000. Berkman and

Elizabeth Ann Duke Elizabeth Ann Duke (born November 25, 1940) is an American fugitive best known for her involvement with radical left-wing political organizations and subsequent flight from prosecution. She remains wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation o ...

were arrested on May 23, 1985, near Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Their car was found to have a pistol and shotgun, as well as the key to a storage site that held 100 pounds of dynamite. During his years on the run in the 1980s, court papers alleged, he was involved with groups that had staged seven bombings of military and other government facilities, though charges related to the bombings were later dismissed. He was charged as part of the

Resistance Conspiracy The Resistance Conspiracy case (1988-1990) was a Federal Judicial trial in the United States in which six people were charged with the 1983 U.S. Senate bombing and related bombings of Fort McNair and the Washington Navy Yard: Marilyn Jean Buck, L ...

and convicted for his participation in the supermarket robbery, the proceeds of which, prosecutors alleged, had been used to buy the dynamite. Berkman served eight years of a 10-year sentence.

Post-prison

As a parolee after his release from prison, Berkman worked as a doctor at a

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

drug addiction clinic for other parolees. In 1995, Berkman returned to

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

as a postdoctoral research fellow and worked at a clinic assisting homeless victims of AIDS with mental illness. Upon his return to New York, after performing research in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in the late 1990s, Berkman became one of the founders of Health GAP, an organization dedicated to expanding affordable access to AIDS medications such as

antiretroviral drugs The management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs as a strategy to control HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the HIV life-cycle. The use of multipl ...

in the poorest parts of the world. Through such efforts as lobbying to allow foreign governments to impose compulsory licenses to allow local manufacture of medications without the imposition of U.S. trade tariffs, costs for a regimen of AIDS medications that had cost $15,000 annually in the late 1990s had been cut to $150 per year by the time of his death.

Personal life and death

A resident of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, Berkman died there, aged 63, from

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

on June 5, 2009. He was survived by his wife, Dr. Barbara Zeller, as well as two daughters and a grandson.

References

External links

Obituary per Health GAP press release re Dr. Berkman's death
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkman, Alan 1945 births 2009 deaths Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni Cornell University alumni Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from lymphoma Fugitives Fugitives wanted by the United States Members of the Weather Underground Physicians from Brooklyn Activists from Brooklyn Activists from Manhattan Physicians from Manhattan People from Middletown, Orange County, New York