Ernest Sachs (January 25, 1879 – December 2, 1958) was an American neurosurgeon. The grandson of Goldman Sachs's founder, he became Professor of Neurosurgery at the

Washington University School of Medicine Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) is the medical school of Washington University in St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1891, the School of Medicine has 1,260 students, 604 of which are pursuing a medical degree with ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

in 1919. He was president of The Society of Neurological Surgeons from 1925 to 1927, and president of the

American Neurological Association The American Neurological Association (ANA) is a professional society of academic neurologists and neuroscientists devoted to advancing the goals of academic neurology; to training and educating neurologists and other physicians in the neurologic ...

in 1943. Together with

Harvey Cushing Harvey Williams Cushing (April 8, 1869 – October 7, 1939) was an American neurosurgeon, pathologist, writer, and draftsman. A pioneer of brain surgery, he was the first exclusive neurosurgeon and the first person to describe Cushing's disease. ...

, he is known as the ''Father of Neurosurgery''.

Early life

Ernest Sachs was born on January 25, 1879 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. His father,

Julius Sachs Julius Sachs (July 6, 1849 – February 2, 1934) was an American educator, founder of the Sachs Collegiate Institute who belongs to the Goldman–Sachs family of bankers. Sachs was born on July 6, 1849, in Baltimore. After taking his A.B. at ...

, was an educator. His mother, Rosa Goldman, was the daughter of Goldman Sachs's founder

Marcus Goldman Marcus Goldman (born Marcus Goldmann; December 9, 1821 – July 20, 1904) was a Jewish American investment banker, businessman, and financier. He was the founder of Goldman Sachs, which has since become one of the world's largest investment b ...

. He grew up in New York City, where he learned to play the

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

from the age of six. Sachs graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1900. In 1904, he received a medical degree from the

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hospi ...

, where he was taught by Professor

William Osler Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet, (; July 12, 1849 – December 29, 1919) was a Canadian physician and one of the "Big Four" founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first residency program for specialty training of phys ...

, and he completed his three-year

residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgra ...

under the supervision of Arpad Gester at Mount Sinai Hospital in 1907. He subsequently spent three more years in Vienna, Berlin and London, where he studied under Sir

Victor Horsley Sir Victor Alexander Haden Horsley (14 April 1857 – 16 July 1916) was a British scientist and professor. He was born in Kensington, London. Educated at Cranbrook School, Kent, he studied medicine at University College London and in Berlin, G ...

and he wrote a treatise about the

thalamus The thalamus (from Greek θάλαμος, "chamber") is a large mass of gray matter located in the dorsal part of the diencephalon (a division of the forebrain). Nerve fibers project out of the thalamus to the cerebral cortex in all directions, ...

Career

Sachs became practising neurosurgery in New York City. In 1911, he moved to

, where he taught neurosurgery at the

. In 1919, he became the first Professor of Neurosurgery in the USA. Sachs was a founding member of The Society of Neurological Surgeons, and he served as its Secretary-Treasurer from 1920 to 1924, and as its president from 1925 to 1927. He served as the president of the

in 1943. He also served on the board of directors of the American Board of Neurological Surgery. Additionally, Sachs was an honorary member of the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chamber ...

and the Deutsche Akadamie der Naturforscher Leopoldina. Sachs resigned from Washington University in 1949, and he became professor emeritus at the

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

Personal life and death

Sachs married Mary Parmly Koues, a playwright and poet, in 1913. They had two sons,

Ernest Sachs, Jr. Ernest Sachs Jr. (October 2, 1916 – December 3, 2001) was an American neurosurgeon. The great-grandson of Goldman Sachs's founder, he was a neurosurgeon at Dartmouth College's Hitchcock Medical Center for 30 years. He promoted the use of the s ...

and Thomas Dudley Sachs, and a daughter, who died in 1927. Sachs died on December 2, 1958 in New Haven, Connecticut.

Works

* * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sachs, Ernest 1879 births 1958 deaths American people of German-Jewish descent Physicians from New York City Harvard University alumni Johns Hopkins School of Medicine alumni Washington University in St. Louis faculty Yale University faculty American neurosurgeons