Magdalena Eisinger

August 12, 1937 - May 25, 2024

Magdalena Eisinger was born in Czechoslovakia in 1937 to Lili (Livia) Spitzer and Ladislav Weinberger. During the Second World War and the Holocaust she grew up in hiding in Hungary and Slovakia. After the end of WWII the family settled in the town of Košice, in the newly formed communist state of Czechoslovakia. There, she had ambitions of becoming a doctor, but because her adoptive father was imprisoned on trumped-up charges under the communist regime, she was restricted in her choice of profession. She became a veterinarian and achieved her Doctor of Sciences. During this time, she met Frantisek Eisinger and they married. In Košice, they had two daughters, Katarina and Jana.

During the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, she urged her husband to escape, and with his reluctant consent, they left and fled to Vienna, with two small children and only a few belongings that they could fit in their small car. From there, they emigrated to the United States, where Frantisek’s sister Meli lived. Here, in New York and New Jersey, Magdalena adapted again and overcame many challenges to become a renowned scientist.

Her first job was at Sloan-Kettering, then she moved to Lederle Laboratories and from there she joined Johnson & Johnson, where she received the honor of being designated a Distinguished Research Fellow for her leading innovative research. At Johnson & Johnson she headed up her own laboratory, doing novel research in cell culture and wound healing. Throughout her esteemed career, she received many patents for her innovative work with applications for wound healing as well as for acne and skin cancer. She was admired by her research fellows and colleagues for her dedication and devotion to her work and for her extraordinary leadership and mentorship. Her love of science was deep and infectious, and she never complained of the long hours she spent in the lab, peering through microscopes.

In 2010, her beloved husband Frantisek passed away, and she had to redefine her life again. She was fortunate to fall in love a second time, to a wonderful man from Slovakia, Paul Schweitzer, whom she had known for most of her adult life. In 2013 they married, and Paul was her partner and companion until her death in 2024.

She was the consummate caregiver and a devoted wife who always put the comfort and joy of others above her own needs. She was an amazing mother and grandmother. Her children and grandchildren were her pride and joy.

Her strength and indomitable spirit, her wisdom and kindness, and her enthusiasm for life and love serve as an inspiration to us all. She left this world peacefully, with her husband beside her and her daughters close by. She is survived by her two daughters Katarina and Jana, her husband Paul, her granddaughters Juliana, Livia, Cassandra, Sonja, and Renata, and her brother Tony.