Anonmyous colleague

(Submitted by a colleague.)

Thank you for contacting me.

I was deeply touched and moved by your letter, and saddened to learn of Kurt's passing. I knew him when I was a fellow in consultation-liaison psychiatry on the oncology service at Montefiore Hospital from July 1977 through June 1978. I met with him and the chair of oncology, Ed Greenwald, weekly to address ward and staff emotional issues. Kurt was a sincere, sweet, thoughtful, elegant, and down-to-earth man with a clear sense of what was best. I helped the two of them reach consensus where consensus seemed especially unlikely. He could certainly hold his own against a stubborn, far less emotionally sensitive "adversary." Although I visited Kurt and Gloria once at their home on CPW, and he and I had lunch once long after I left Montefiore at the time when he had started a private practice in NYC, your childhood stories about him make me wish I had gotten to know him as a friend. Sadly, that never happened, certainly a reflection of my limitations.

I will write something for the website.

Sincerely,

(...)

p.s. My condolences to you, your siblings, Gloria and the Elias family.