Ben Handelsman

On a sunny January day, Dr. BEN HANDELSMAN spent 15 hours sitting in his hospital recliner, telling stories to his family about the people and events that had shaped his past, "the miracle that has been my life and the miracle that is all our lives." For everyone who had watched his energy gradually weaken, this last day was a wonder. Ben had just spent seven weeks in the UAMS hospital following his final round of chemotherapy, bearing its devastating impact on his body. Early the next morning, Jan. 20, with the sun again shining into his room, his life peacefully left his body. Ben's unique combination of kindness, friendliness, caring and dry wit touched the lives of everyone he encountered. For Ben, a man of humility until the end, this way of relating to people was not that special at all; it was how everyone should treat everyone else. Ben was grateful for the broad knowledge provided by his parents, Thelma and Jack Handelsman. He believed that childhood was not just a time to produce healthy adults; it was also worthy of it's own pleasures and wonders. Ben grew up in Queens, N.Y. and later New Hyde Park, N.Y. He attended Great Neck South HS class of 1965. He graduated from U of Rochester (NY) in 1970 and the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1974. His did his internship at Los Angeles County Hospital, residency at the Sepulveda, Calif. Veterans Administration, and fellowship in gastroenterology at Cedar Sinai Hospital in L.A. After a stint in Michigan, he moved to Ogdensburg, N.Y., where he formed a mutually supportive relationship with Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center and the community that lasted for over two decades. Ben's final visit to Ogdensburg during a treatment furlough was memorable. He was astounded and gratified by how many people attended a hospital luncheon held in his honor, on just one day's notice. Dr. Michael Seidman remarked there that Ben was "one of the giants of the North Country," which Ben considered among the greatest compliments he ever received. To the end, Ben was impressed by and grateful for the high level of clinical ability and caring he received from his superb UAMS team of doctors, nurses, techs, and the sitters who provided round-the-clock care during his final weeks.