“Every day is now a happy day. Living, loving, practicing, parenting and grand-parenting leaves little time to contemplate any sadness.” That sums up Richard Waldman’s philosophy of life. And why not? He has a thriving OB-Gyn practice in Syracuse, is married to Elaine, a practicing midwife, enjoys photography, reading and medical politics, kvels about his children and grandchildren and is building a house in Charleston, South Carolina. “That’s where you, find Elaine and me whenever it gets cold in Syracuse.” As his grandmother would say, “he deserves it.”
Dr. Waldman grew up on Hansbury Avenue and attended Rutgers University after graduating from Weequahic. He earned his medical degree from the New Jersey College of Medicine and interned and residencied at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse before joining the US Air Force where he served in Texas and Oklahoma.
Are you sitting down for this one? Richard has 5 children and 8 grandchildren. “Besides making babies, my kids are managing a medical office, teaching, estimating carpeting, MBAing in the pharmaceutical industry and performing plastic surgery,” Richard says about his children. No wonder he’s smiling so broadly in the picture.
Richard has received several awards for his service to the medical community, the Air Force, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He served as President of the Central New York OB-Gyn Society, Chair of the New York District of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and chairman of Performance Improvement of St Josephs Hospital Health Center.
Elaine has received the Award of Excellence from the American College of Nurse Midwifery and was also awarded a Fellowship in that organization.
According to Richard, much of his youth was spent being a straight arrow. “I attended College and medical school during a time that was tumultuous for others. In medical school, however, I organized boycotts for my classmates and became the editor of the school magazine. That was the first time that I became involved in threatening the status quo.”
He reminisces about his early years in Syracuse when the birthing scene was staid and conservative. He was instrumental in establishing the first midwifery practice in central New York, and helped establish the first birthing center (which still operates today). “I worked to humanize many birthing practices that I and others considered rigid and dehumanizing,” he recounts.
The highlight of his life? “Creating and maintaining a holistic and family centered practice in a community that previously did not allow women to immediately touch their newborn babies, ” he says with a sense of achievement. “Until becoming a grandfather, that is.”
Richard says he has no plans for retirement. He intends to continue his practice until such time that he “will no longer be helpful to others.” Right now he is involved in the battle to save his specialty that is being rocked by a liability crisis that threatens “our future and the health and welfare of your children and grandchildren”. That will keep him busy for a while.
His e-mail address is rwacog@aol.com
