Joseph Lewi

thumb|Dr. Joseph Lewi '''Joseph Lewi''' (August 17, 1820 – December 19, 1897) was an American physician of Czech Jewish extraction.

==Biography== Lewi was born on August 17, 1820, in Radnice and educated at the universities of Prague and Vienna. After graduating from the latter university (MD 1846), he was appointed assistant at the Vienna Lying-in Hospital. In 1847, he began to practice in Radnice. Lewi's first patient was the daughter of Isaac Mayer Wise, who was to become the first rabbi in Albany, New York, and the most notable American Jewish leader of the 19th century.

In 1948, at Wise's suggestion, he emigrated to America, settling in Albany, where his family shared a house with the Wise family. Lewi became one of the first Jewish professionals in Albany and the first Jewish physician in Albany.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Liebman |first=Bennett |date=2015-09-22 |title=Ed Lewi's family an integral part of Albany's history |url=https://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-opinion/article/Ed-Lewi-s-family-an-integral-part-of-Albany-s-6522482.php |access-date=2022-04-22 |website=Times Union}}</ref> There he was appointed on the staff of the Albany hospital, and became a member and later president of the Albany County Medical Society, and senior censor of the State Medical Society. During the American Civil War, he sat on the state board that evaluated potential military surgeons.<ref name=JAMA>{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HfoUuSDX5nYC&pg=PA48 |title=Necrology. |date=January 1, 1898 |volume=XXX |issue=1 |page=48 |magazine=Journal of the American Medical Association |access-date=2025-07-12}}</ref> Lewi was one of the forty-two citizens of Albany who organized, in 1863, the Union League in that city.

Joseph Lewi died at his home in Albany, New York on December 19, 1897.<ref name=JAMA/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7TVYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA232 |title=Joseph Lewi, M.D. |date=April 1898 |volume=XIX |issue=4 |pages=232–235 |magazine=Albany Medical Annals |access-date=2025-07-12}}</ref>

==Personal== In 1849, Lewi married fellow Jewish immigrant Bertha Schwarz in New York City. Her father was Joseph Emanuel Schwarz, a cantor and noted composer of sacred music in Kassel, Germany. They had six sons and eight daughters.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_leslies-weekly_1893-07-06_77_1973/page/7/mode/1up |title=Notable Jews.—No. XIV.: Dr. Joseph Lewi |date=July 6, 1893 |volume=LXXVII |issue=1973 |page=7 |magazine=Frank Leslie's Weekly |access-date=2025-07-13}}</ref><ref name=Albany>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/landmarksofalban00parker/page/n699/mode/1up |chapter=Joseph Lewi, M.D. |title=Landmarks of Albany County, New York |first=Amasa J. |last=Parker |date=1897 |volume=II |pages=36–38 |publisher=D. Mason & Co., Publishers |location=Syracuse, New York |access-date=2025-07-13}}</ref>

Thirteen of Lewi's fourteen children survived him. Their oldest son was the journalist Isidor Lewi (1850–1939). He was educated at The Albany Academy, became connected with several newspapers, and was an editorial writer for the ''New York Tribune'' and publisher of ''The New Era Illustrated Magazine''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/01/03/archives/isidor-lewi-dead-long-a-journalist-member-of-herald-tribune-staff.html |title=Isidor Lewi Dead; Long a Journalist: Member of Herald Tribune Staff Was 88 and Had Been News Writer Since 1870 |date=January 3, 1939 |page=17 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=2025-07-12}}</ref>

thumb|140px|left|Dr. Maurice J. Lewi Another son, Maurice J. Lewi (born December 1, 1857 in Albany; died May 27, 1957 in Manhattan), was a physician in New York City. He graduated from the Albany Medical College in 1877. After a postgraduate course in Heidelberg and Vienna he began to practice in Albany in 1880, became a lecturer at the Albany Medical College and professor of medical jurisprudence at the Albany Law School, and later became secretary of the state board of medical examiners. In 1912, he led the establishment of podiatry as a distinct medical specialty. In 1913, he became president of the new Institute of Podiatry.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9pwYAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA21 |title=The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia in Ten Volumes: An Authoritative and Popular Presentation of Jews and Judaism Since the Earliest Times |first=Isaac |last=Landman |date=1942 |volume=7 |pages=21–22 |publisher=The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Inc. |location=New York, New York |id=(Separate entries for Isidor, Joseph and Maurice J. Lewi) |access-date=2025-07-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/05/28/archives/dr-maurice-j-lewi-dead-at-99-headed-ny-college-of-podiatry-oldest.html |title=Dr. Maurice J. Lewi Dead at 99: Headed N.Y. College of Podiatry |date=May 28, 1957 |page=31 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=2025-07-12}}</ref>

Their youngest son, William G. Lewi, also became a physician.<ref name=Albany/> Their oldest daughter, Wilhelmine, married physician Herman Bendell. Herman and Wilhelmine's son, Joseph Lewi Bendell, also became a physician.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n3QWAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA46 |title=History of the Class of 1903, Yale College |first=Ziegler |last=Sargent |date=1906 |page=46 |publisher=The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press |location=New Haven, Connecticut |access-date=2025-07-12}}</ref> Another of Joseph and Bertha's daughters, Martha Washington Lewi, married physician Alois Donhauser.<ref name=Albany/>

==References== {{Reflist}} *{{JewishEncyclopedia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewi, Joseph}} Category:1820 births Category:1897 deaths Category:People from Rokycany District Category:University of Vienna alumni Category:Medical doctors from the Austrian Empire Category:Emigrants from the Austrian Empire to the United States Category:American people of Czech-Jewish descent Category:19th-century American medical doctors Category:People from Albany, New York