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Obituary: Dr. Abe Fuks, 78, transformed medical education in Montreal—with a dedication to friendship and Yiddishkeit
As a professor who insisted on placing the notion of personhood at the centre of the clinician-patient relationship in the medical school curriculum, Dr. Abraham “Abe” Fuks made an impact on generations of health professionals in his hometown and beyond.
More than half a century after earning his own degree from McGill University—where he ultimately served as Faculty of Medicine dean from 1995 to 2006—Fuks died in Montreal on Dec. 1, at age 78.
A leading researcher in immunology, Fuks also made great and enduring contributions to the understanding of tumour biology, type 1 diabetes, and clinical trial ethics. His work shaped the evolution of medical education in Canada, beginning with McGill’s medical curriculum, notably introducing the Physicianship component, whose courses and modules emphasized humanism in medical training.
Teaching, he argued, should not just look at fixing and curing, but also true healing and empathy.
After conducting biochemistry and molecular biology research at Harvard University, where he also taught courses, Fuks returned to McGill to serve as a professor in Medicine, Oncology and Pathology.
Subsequently, he was instrumental in reshaping the school’s medical infrastructure by organizing the 1997 merger of the Montreal General, Royal Victoria and Montreal Children’s hospitals—along with the Chest and Neurological institutes—to create the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC).
Despite this era of austerity and repeated punishing budgetary constraints during his tenure, Fuks still managed to endow chairs and boost faculty numbers while expanding the biomedical research facilities at McGill.
Lending his talent to numerous committees and initiatives, he was affectionately dubbed the “philosopher dean” for his renowned humanistic approach to patient care and generous demeanour.
Fuks prescribed of listening as an obligatory skill set for doctors-in-training amid a modern teaching-hospital environment that is increasingly a place of short-term admissions and gauged and rewarded for even shorter stays.
The slew of professional and personal kudos he received from peers were capped with being awarded the Order of Canada in 2018. But according to one friend of 50 years, Fuks still kept the important things in life sacred.
“Yiddishkeit and friendship, friendship, friendship,” were his priorities according to former city councillor Abe Gushonor. “With all the people he knew, all that he was involved in, he believed in the importance of staying close.”
The two met through the Yiddish Theatre when “we were much, much younger,” laughed Gonshor, “back when Dora Wasserman first set out to create this theatre that created unchanged friendships that lasted forever.”
Fuks was one of the pillars of the group, performing with his sister Sylvia in many productions.
During the 18 years after ending his stint as dean, Fuks remained a committed mentor, seen regularly on campus, ready to chat with students or faculty, lend an ear or a dose of wisdom when needed—always with a smile, sharply dressed, sporting his signature bowties.
Those who had “the privilege of his collegiality or friendship were fortunate to share time and experience with a special human being,” wrote Myer Bick, president emeritus of the Jewish General Hospital Foundation.
“His character encompassed the rare combination of qualities of a brilliant mind, understanding of the human condition, humility and of course a sharp wit.”
A few years after he helped launch the White Coat Ceremony for medical students, Fuks was honoured by the Douglas Research Centre, telling an audience a highlight of his leadership was working with successful young people, which he likened to “academic parenthood.”
“He was the most incredible listener and had the unbelievable power of information retention,” Gonshor recalled. “He would remember things I told him 40 years ago in great detail, and because he listened so well, he gave the best advice. Any person that ever interacted with him, notice that he was focused on that person, and very humble and compassionate.
“He never boasted about his achievements and with all the things he did and all the things he’s accomplished, it was never about him. It was always about the people around him.”
Fuks also had a keen understanding and passion for relations between institutions, donors, and wider communities, and helped sound the alarm about Quebec City’s recent large-scale Bill 15 health reform, which would dramatically alter institutional governance imposing a new level of remote bureaucracy over local leadership.
A year before his death, in his poignant but folksy critique, Fuks told a Montreal audience of healthcare professionals, advocates and politicians that hospitals and other establishments are not bureaucratic agencies but rather “social-cultural entities of communities.”
Rather than talk about organizational charts, he helped direct Quebecers’ attention to the perils of losing local voices on boards, whom he called the “glue between institution and professionals, between hospitals and communities they serve.” That’s where he said, change happened, where spikes in conditions amid local populations are discussed, bold initiatives conceived, and member are dispatched to seek donor support, not by far-away life-tenured bureaucrats.
“Giving ultimate authority over healthcare to someone with zero frontline knowledge,” he famously warned, “is like asking me to run the Bank of Canada.”
Expressing his own admiration for his peers, in 2023 he created an Academy of Exemplary Physicians along with a video interview series with each to honour their contributions.
Born in Germany in the shadow of the Holocaust and brought to Canada as a baby, he grew up in a Parc Avenue triplex above his parents’ store.
Edna Mendelson, an extended cousin—and also a child of a survivor—recalls him as a “legend” for providing support to her family when they arrived in Montreal in the late 1960s.
“The family bond and the deep Holocaust survivors’ bond was thick and unshakeable,” she said.
Abe Gonshor lost his 24-year-old daughter Sarah to a very rare form of cancer, and his friend Abe was very moved by her experience and suffering through pain during diagnostic tests.
“For years afterward he carried a letter Sarah wrote about what she felt doctors should know, something that inspired Abe to stress that importance to medical students before they became doctors, learning how to listen, how to speak.”
But mostly Gonshor remembers simple times together, as they met for Friday night dinners and Saturday morning coffee, along with regular Sunday brunches in the west end of Montreal.
“With all the things he was doing—teaching, schools, hospitals, foundations, committees and philanthropy—he found time to be with his friends. He always was with us. How much we’ll miss him, and how much the world will.
“There’s such an impact. I don’t know if words can explain it.”
The post Obituary: Dr. Abe Fuks, 78, transformed medical education in Montreal—with a dedication to friendship and Yiddishkeit appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Netanyahu Escalates Attack on Australia’s Albanese as Jewish Group Urges Calm
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday stepped up his personal attacks on Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese over his government’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state, saying Albanese‘s political record had been damaged forever.
Diplomatic ties between Australia and Israel have soured since Albanese‘s center-left Labor government last week announced it would conditionally recognize Palestinian statehood, following similar moves by France, Britain, and Canada.
The decision prompted Netanyahu to launch a personal attack on Albanese, and he doubled down on his condemnation in an interview to be broadcast on Sky News Australia.
“I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed in the face of this Hamas terrorist monsters,” Netanyahu said, after describing Albanese earlier this week as “a weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.”
Sky News Australia released the comments ahead of the broadcast of the full interview on Thursday at 8 pm (1000 GMT).
Albanese on Wednesday played down Netanyahu‘s criticisms, saying he did not “take these things personally” and that he treated the leaders of other countries with respect.
Last week, Albanese said the Israeli prime minister was “in denial” about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where Israel has been waging a military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry in separate letters sent on Wednesday to both leaders urged them to discuss differences through diplomacy rather than public posturing.
“We write to express our deep dismay and concern at the recent ‘war of words,’” the letters said.
“If things need to be said publicly, they should be said using measured and seemly language befitting national leaders. Australia and Israel are mature democracies, and their governments need to act accordingly,” the council said.
Israel this week revoked the visas of Australian diplomats to the Palestinian Authority after Albanese‘s government canceled the visa of an Israeli lawmaker over remarks it considered controversial and inflammatory.
Israel’s military announced the first steps of an operation to take control of Gaza City on Wednesday, calling up tens of thousands of reservists despite many of Israel’s closest allies calling for it to reconsider.
The offensive began after Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 more hostage. Israel is currently considering a new ceasefire proposal.
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Iran Holds Military Drills After Big Losses in War With Israel
An Iranian missile is launched during a military exercise in an undisclosed location in Iran, Aug. 20, 2025. Photo: Iranian Army/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iran on Thursday launched its first solo military exercises since its June war with Israel, state media reported, seeking to reassert an image of strength after suffering heavy losses.
Navy units of Iran‘s regular armed forces fired missiles and drones at open water targets in the Indian Ocean under the “Sustainable Power 1404” drill, state television reported.
“These drills take place around a month after the Iran-Russia drill under the name Casarex 2025 which took place in Iran‘s northern waters [Caspian Sea]. The Sustainable Power drills … are in Iran‘s southern waters,” state TV said.
Israel attacked Iran in a 12-day air war which the United States briefly joined, pounding key nuclear installations and killing top military commanders and nuclear scientists.
Israel largely destroyed Iran‘s air defenses during the war and much of its stockpile of ballistic weapons is believed to have been damaged by Israeli strikes.
Since then, the Islamic Republic has said it is ready to counter any future attacks.
“Any new adventure by the enemy will be faced with a strong slap,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to strike Iran again if it revives nuclear facilities including uranium enrichment plants.
Tehran suspended negotiations with Washington aimed at curbing the country’s nuclear ambitions after the Israeli and US airstrikes. Iran denies any intent to develop atomic bombs.
Iran believes the moment for “effective” nuclear talks with the US has not yet arrived, its top diplomat said on Wednesday, though Tehran would not completely cut off cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
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Jewish Comedian Jeff Ross Cooks in One Man Show on Broadway
Jeff Ross in his one-man show on Broadway.
Jeff Ross is best known for roasting celebrities like Tom Brady, making jokes that some could interpret as mean. But his one man show on Broadway, Take a Banana for The Ride, shows a lot of heart.
Ross describes cutting brisket as part of his family’s kosher catering business, having a big Jew-fro, and losing all his hair in one week due to alopecia. He also described having surgery and going through chemo, thankfully recovering from stomach cancer.
He jokes that he could roast himself because he has thick skin. Ross is his middle name, and his last name is Lifschultz.
Ross calls comedy his superpower, and it certainly is. He talks about his uncle, Murray, liberating a concentration camp and how he was bullied and took karate lessons and became the second youngest black belt in America.
He jokes that Jesus was the only Jewish carpenter, and another joke about him is the edgiest in the show, which is far less profane than his roasts. The title of the show comes from his grandfather, Jack, who told him to take the yellow fruit with him on his bus trips from Brooklyn to Manhattan to do standup comedy.
Ross mentions his friend told everyone on a text chain to get a colonoscopy, and when he got one, a stage III tumor was found. He had surgery and seven inches of his colon was removed. Ross also reads a love letter his father wrote to his mother. While Ross is funny, with his usual excellent timing, that he would choose to show such vulnerability is remarkable. He even speaks of two birth defects.
Pictures of his relatives come up behind him, as well as the three comedy pals he lost in recent succession, Jewish comics Gilbert Gottfried and Bob Saget, as well as Norm Macdonald. He makes a joke about his sister, Robyn, that some might find surprising and you’ll want to hear about a surprising gift he got from his father for Hanukkah. He says the first comedy writing he did was a card he wrote to his mother to try to cheer her up when suffering from leukemia. Marsha would die when her son was 14, and his father died when he was 19.
Ross speaks of going to Boston University, where he starred in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Comedy likely saved Ross at a time of sorrow, and he regrets that his parents never got to see him perform — but says they gave him the gift of humor.
Ross has a funny song about all the things Jews created, including Hollywood, kugel, and cosmetic surgery.
At the end of the show, Ross goes out to people in the audience who are dealing with hardships, insults them and gives them a banana. Ross delivers a performance that is hilarious, warm, and worthy of an award, which I expect he will win. It’s only running for eight weeks and it is worth seeing not only because of Ross’ star-power, but because of his humanity.
Judging only from his roasts, one would think Ross was as cold as ice. But it’s a revelation to see this other side of him. And while he doesn’t have kids, it’s clear he loved one dog that passed away and another that is still alive. Ross reveals he wears a ring made from a bolt of a Nazi U-Boat.
Take a Banana For The Ride is a Jewish story, but also a universal one that is heartwarming, inspiring, and surprising. Don’t miss it! And just like you stay to watch the credits at the end of a movie, there’s a surprise at the end of his show.
The author is a writer based in New York.