The Life of Charles W. Denko, PH.D, M.D. - Hardcover

Denko, Joanne

9781879384910: The Life of Charles W. Denko, PH.D, M.D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1879384914 ISBN 13: 9781879384910

Publisher: Cypress House, 2013

Charles W. Denko was born to immigrant parents. He entered first grade speaking only Russian. A teacher devised assignments that brought him to a level of excellent English in a single year. Polio at age one had left Charles with a severely crippled leg. A passing stranger noticed him struggling while at play. The man, a member of the Shriners Society, arranged for Charles to be sent to the group s hospital for a surgical procedure that enabled him to walk.

Scholarships saw Charles through college and graduate school. He emerged as a biochemist during World War II, enlisted, and was sent to the European Occupation where, as an officer in displaced persons camps, he used his knowledge of Eastern European languages to find family members of Jewish orphans their parents victims of the Holocaust with whom to place the children. On his return, Charles used the GI Bill for medical school, earned an M.D., and thus had the base on which to study rheumatologic disorders. He created a body of work that would advance rheumatology in the latter half of the twentieth century.

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About the Author:

JOANNE D. DENKO was the wife now the widow of Dr. Charles W. Denko. She is also the mother of three sons, grandmother of six, and a physician by profession (psychiatrist by specialty). In each of these roles and relationships, she has been alert to experiences appropriate to write about in psychiatric journal articles, nonfiction books, and poems. Joanne s late husband taught her the rudiments of scientific writing, and she found his comments and suggestions invaluable in all of her work. This book, which consists of vignettes about the life of their grandfather, was created primarily for Charles and Joanne s grandchildren.

A prizewinning poet, journalist, and public speaker, Joanne graduated with highest honors from Michigan s Hope College. She received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University and her master s degree in psychiatry from the University of Michigan. A member of the Cleveland Psychiatric Society, Dr. Denko treated psychiatric patients for decades. Committed to the literary and cultural life of her community, she leads a local Great Books discussion group. Joanne Denko lives in Ohio.

Review:

This is a good book about a very good man. Brilliant and caring, Charles W. Denko led a life of service to his scientific field, his community, his family, and to everyone he chanced to meet. Not written from a single point of view, the book is instead a collection of remembrances from many of the people affected by Chuck s benevolence and grace: his wife, his three sons, his siblings, his peers, and those he met on his many travels. It presents an image of a humble man who can inspire us all the kind of person who gives us hope that we might have a chance to reverse the deterioration of values that is following the current wave of thoughtless human greed. --William J. Cashman, editor and publisher, Beaver Beacon

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