It was a Sunday in February when my phone rang. It was Dr. Kurt Ransohoff, CEO of Sansum Clinic, telling me that Dr. Daniel had suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. My reaction was, predictably, of utter shock and disbelief. Erno Scipiades Daniel was not just a respected and much-loved physician at Sansum, but for many years he has also been the primary care provider to both my wife, Julie, and me.
I don’t remember what I said on the phone. I am sure it was only semi-coherent because of all the emotions that I was trying to get under control. For a while I chose to be alone with my thoughts. Later, when I told my wife the news, we started sharing our grief.
To appreciate the extent of our reactions, it helps to know that Erno was more than just our doctor. He was a friend and a fellow émigré from Hungary. During our office visits, there was always some conversation in Hungarian. Unlike us, he spoke English as if he were born here, yet we were always surprised that his knowledge and use of Hungarian was also better than ours. Through our shared heritage and language, our relationship became very personal. He clearly enjoyed and cultivated this, because his medical reports to us always included special notes in Hungarian. He often made references to culturally unique events and activities of children that we had as shared experiences growing up in our country of birth.
