William Berenberg
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William Berenberg, M.D. (October 29, 1915 – September 14, 2005) was an American physician,
Harvard 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 higher le ...
professor, and pioneer in the treatment and rehabilitation of cerebral palsy.


Early life

Berenberg was born in
Haverhill, Massachusetts Haverhill ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Haverhill is located 35 miles north of Boston on the New Hampshire border and about 17 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The population was 67,787 at the 2020 United States Cen ...
, to immigrant parents. Growing up in
Chelsea, Massachusetts Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. As of the 2020 census, Chelsea had a population of 40,787. With a total area of just 2.46 s ...
, he proved a bright and studious young man and earned admission to Harvard University on scholarship. However, his father was reportedly too proud to allow his son to take the "hand-out" and Berenberg worked his own way through the Ivy League institution, commuting from home and cleaning dishes for extra income. He graduated from
Harvard 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 higher le ...
cum laude in 1936 and entered Boston University Medical School later that year, earning his M.D. in 1940. In 1941, Berenberg entered the pathology department of Children's Hospital in Boston as an intern. Thus began his extraordinary sixty-year relationship with the hospital.


Career

He was Chief, Interim Chief or Associate Chief of seven divisions, including serving as Associate Physician-in-Chief from 1969 to 1974, and Chief of the Cerebral Palsy Division for 44 years. He was a worldwide leader in the study and treatment of cerebral palsy and opened the first cerebral palsy kindergarten in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In 1968, he was elected president of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy. Along with friend and fellow cerebral palsy advocate Leonard Goldenson, Berenberg appeared before the U.S. House Appropriations Committee in 1973. He successfully lobbied for the Rehabilitation Act, which was arguably the first piece of landmark legislation enacted to protect the disabled, outlawing discrimination based on handicap. In it, public funding was secured for orthopedic equipment. Berenberg became an adjunct professor at MIT and, from 1974–1988, directed the
Harvard 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 higher le ...
MIT Rehabilitation Engineering Center, where he coordinated research to create devices to help those with disabilities. A Professor of
Pediatrics Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...
at Harvard Medical School, Berenberg trained over 1,000 pediatricians and treated many thousands of children, including President John F. Kennedy's late son
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. Housecalls in eastern Massachusetts were common, but he also built a large international practice, with patients from Mexico to Saudi Arabia. Berenberg was the official medical consultant to the
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.


Recognition

Berenberg received numerous honors and awards during his long career. Early on, he was lauded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his research in
gamma globulin Gamma globulins are a class of globulins, identified by their position after serum protein electrophoresis. The most significant gamma globulins are immunoglobulins ( antibodies), although some immunoglobulins are not gamma globulins, and some ga ...
. In 1970, the President of Ecuador awarded him the
National Order of Merit An order of merit is conferred by a state, government or royal family on an individual in recognition of military or civil merit. Order of merit may also refer to: * FIFA Order of Merit, for significant contribution to association football * PDC O ...
with the grade of commander for service to that nation's children. In 1980, he was awarded the Janeway Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching from the house staff. In 1990, Berenberg received a distinct honor when many of his colleagues, supporters, and former patients raised funds to endow the
William Berenberg Professorship of Pediatrics William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
at Harvard Medical School. Frederick Lovejoy was the first to hold the chair. Formally retiring in 2001, Berenberg remained a Harvard professor emeritus until his death on September 14, 2005 in
Norwood, Massachusetts Norwood is a town and census-designated place in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Norwood is part of the Greater Boston area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,611. The town was named after Norwood, England. Norwood is ...
. He is buried at
Sharon Memorial Park Sharon Memorial Park is a crematory and cemetery located at 5716 Monroe Road in Charlotte, North Carolina, US. Notable people interred there include baseball players Bob Porterfield Erwin Coolidge "Bob" Porterfield (August 10, 1923 – April 2 ...
in Sharon, Massachusetts. Berenberg married Blanche Berger (dec. 1989) in 1939 and the couple had three children. Two became physicians, Jeffrey L. Berenberg and Richard A. Berenberg (dec. 1984), and one became a social worker, Barbara Berenberg.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berenberg, William 1915 births 2005 deaths Harvard Medical School faculty 20th-century American educators Harvard University alumni Boston University School of Medicine alumni People from Haverhill, Massachusetts People from Chelsea, Massachusetts