Author Description

The remarkable life-story of Dr. Jack Karpas It all started in a little Shtetel in Lithuania. At the age of four his family emigrated to a remote small village in South Africa where he spent his childhood. After attending boarding-school in Cape Town, he graduated from University of Cape Town medical school just weeks before his 23rd birthday. He worked as a rural doctor in sparsely inhabited parts of South Africa, often being the only doctor within hundreds of miles. He then opened a private practice in Parow, near Cape Town. His reputation as a physician made him popular and when he was invited to participate in local politics, he was elected to become the first Jewish Councilman and then the Mayor of Parow. He left a prosperous medical practice, a large house, many friends and took his wife and three sons to begin life as an immigrant in the newly formed State of Israel, where he felt his skills were needed. After a couple of years in the new country, he was offered a position as the Deputy General Director of the Hadassah Medical Organization. He was one of the leaders of the development and growth of Hadassah Hospital and the planners of its Ein Karem campus, which became the leading medical institution in Israel, and perhaps the Middle East. He played an instrumental part in forming the alliance between the Medical School of the Hebrew University and Hadassah, establishing the symbiosis between the two institutions. His remarkable life story ended when he passed away at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, a couple of months before his 83rd birthday.