# Joseph Lewi

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{{short description|American physician}}
{{Notability|date=May 2021}}

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

==Biography==
Lewi was born on August 17, 1820, in [Radnice](/source/Radnice) and educated at the universities of [Prague](/source/Prague) and [Vienna](/source/Vienna). After graduating from the latter university ([MD](/source/Doctor_of_Medicine) 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](/source/Isaac_Mayer_Wise), who was to become the first rabbi in [Albany, New York](/source/Albany%2C_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](/source/Albany_County%2C_New_York) Medical Society, and senior censor of the State Medical Society. During the [American Civil War](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Isidor_Lewi) (1850–<!-- 1938<ref>[http://yulib.mc.yu.edu:8000/cgi-bin/gw/yulis?host=localhost%2B2222%2BDEFAULT&search=KEYWORD&function=CARDSCR&SourceScreen=INITREQ&sessionid=200701221058581933402&skin=portal&conf=.%2Fchameleon.conf&lng=en&itemu1=2008&scant1=Isaac%20(Biblical%20patriarch)%20Legends.&scanu1=21&u1=2008&t1=000405481&elementcount=3&pos=5&prevpos=1&rootsearch=1&], [http://digital.cjh.org/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=364863&local_base=GEN01]</ref> -->1939). He was educated at [The Albany Academy](/source/The_Albany_Academy), became connected with several newspapers, and was an editorial writer for the ''[New York Tribune](/source/New_York_Tribune)'' and publisher of ''[The New Era Illustrated Magazine](/source/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](/source/Albany_Medical_College) in 1877. After a postgraduate course in [Heidelberg](/source/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](/source/Albany_Law_School), and later became secretary of the state board of medical examiners. In 1912, he led the establishment of [podiatry](/source/podiatry) as a distinct medical specialty. In 1913, he became president of the new [Institute of Podiatry](/source/New_York_College_of_Podiatric_Medicine).<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](/source/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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Joseph Lewi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lewi) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lewi?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.