President Lesser
Jack Lesser was president from 1956 to 1973.
Category: 1950s
Deborah Campus at the Beginning of the 1950s
By 1952, Deborah starts to transition from a tuberculosis sanatorium and begins to determine the future direction of the hospital.
Philadelphia Jewish Times Features 7-year-old Heart Patient
7-year-old thanks Deborah and replies, “I am a strong healthy boy again.”
Deborah Hospital Transforms with New Mission
In 1957, the name Deborah Hospital emerges to convey the expanded medical mission.
Open Heart Surgery Pioneer
Charles Bailey, M.D., directed cardiovascular surgery at Deborah and his methods were the focus of a 1957 Time magazine article. The first U.S. physician to repair a hole in the wall between the two sides of the heart, Dr. Bailey was born in Wanamassa, N.J., and educated at Rutgers University,..Read More
1950s Charitable Brochure
$100 donation endows a Kaddish memorial, $1,000 dedicates a bed and $5,000 dedicates a room in perpetuity. These suggested donations were quite generous in the 1950s when the average yearly cost of living was $3,700.
First Heart Surgery Patients
On July 28, 1958, Dr. Charles Bailey performed Deborah’s first heart surgeries on three-year old Bill DiMartino and Dora Hansen.
Cardiac Catheterization Begins at Deborah in 1959
Deborah’s first cardiac catheterization was performed by Vladir Maranhao, M.D., in July 1959.