Goldyne Savad: The story of a remarkable woman!
by Lawrence M. Rosen, M.D.

In 1906 during a pogrom in Kiev a righteous gentile saved the Savadsky family and brought them to a port of embarcation. They arrived at Ellis Island, the port of arrival for most of the immigrants to America, in late 1906. They were a family five children, with the mother, Bessie, in the last stages of pregnancy. The family was to travel to the middle of the United States to stay with a family sponsor. Their trip was interrupted in Chicago by the birth of Bessie's sixth child on October 24, 1906 -- Goldyne.

During the early years in America her father and mother separated so Goldie grew up in a single parent family of six children. Needless to say, she learned about povery at an early age.

She loved school and was an excellent student, but college was out of the question, as no money was available. She never married, and became a secretary when she finished grade school. Her vice was the stock market, and she educated herself in the field of stocks and bonds. After 50 years of investing from her salary as a secretary she became a "little tycoon".

As she approached her 90th birthday her nephew became her trustee and their weekly luncheons, the "board of directors meetings". One important item on the agenda was how she wanted to distribute her estate in her will. Though she is a modest person she agreed to make a major contribution while still with us.

Goldie has been a contributor to Hadassah for many years and wanted her donation to the organization to "make the world a better place". In 1997 after discussions with Bonnie Lipton, then the national chair of the Hadassah Medical Organization, it was decided the the gene therapy project would be a good fit for Goldie's vision for her contribution: on November 22, 1998 The Goldyne Savad Institute of Gene Therapy was dedicated and as the they say, the rest is history.

* Lawrence M. Rosen, M.D, a Radiologist, is Ms. Savad's nephew