Joel Finkelstein

Joel Finkelstein, a distinguished physician, scientist, teacher, and mentor, died on September 4, 2026, six days before his 72nd birthday. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Joel spent most of his adult life in Boston but remained deeply connected to the city where he grew up, formed friendships that endured for decades, and developed many of the passions that stayed with him throughout his life.

Joel, the son of the late Ted and Jane Finkelstein, attended Fairmoor Elementary School and Eastmoor Junior and High Schools, where he excelled academically and athletically. Tennis became an obsession early in his life. He spent countless hours at the public courts at Wolfe Park, sometimes playing for hours a day. As a sophomore, Joel and his brother and doubles partner, Jim, helped Eastmoor win the Columbus City Championship. Joel earned three varsity letters in tennis and served as captain of the Eastmoor tennis team as a senior. He continued to play and enjoy tennis throughout much of his adult life. And whenever he returned to Columbus, he made a point of stopping by the Wolfe Park courts, revisiting the place where he had spent so much of his youth and recalling the countless hours he had played there.

Joel was equally intellectually competitive. He was a member of Eastmoor’s championship In the Know team, the high-school quiz competition modeled after College Bowl. His intellectual curiosity, remarkable memory, and love of learning were evident long before they became hallmarks of his career.

Sunday mornings brought another regular ritual. Joel and his brother joined their cousins, Steve and Mike Weiss, and their father, Uncle Ed, at Agudas Achim Synagogue for the weekly Minyanaire service, a 9:00 a.m. gathering for fathers and sons, followed by breakfast. Uncle Ed picked them up every Sunday morning. It was one of those childhood routines that became part of the fabric of family life and another of Joel’s enduring connections to growing up in Columbus.

Baseball was another lifelong passion. From his earliest days, Joel was obsessed with the game. As a boy, he collected baseball cards and spent countless hours playing All-Star Baseball, the classic board game, with friends and neighbors. As an adult, he became an avid collector of autographed baseballs and other memorabilia, eventually assembling a remarkable collection of baseballs, including a century’s worth autographed by World Series championship teams. He later donated the collection to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, where it remains on display.

After graduating from Eastmoor, Joel attended Northwestern University. In an accelerated program, he earned both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in four years. He then attended Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis before returning to Chicago for his residency at Northwestern University Hospital. His medical training eventually led him to Boston, which became his home.

At Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Joel built a distinguished career as an endocrinologist. His research made significant contributions to the understanding of bone health, sex hormones, vitamin D, and other areas of endocrinology. He was widely respected for his scholarship and clinical work, as well as for his commitment to generations of students, residents, fellows, and younger colleagues. In 1989, his expertise led to work with Major League Baseball, which ultimately resulted in the banning of androstenedione. Of his many publications and interviews, perhaps he was most proud of his work being featured in Sports Illustrated that year.

But medicine and science were only part of Joel’s life.

He loved music and enjoyed playing the piano. Among family, friends, and colleagues, he was well known for creating musical parodies, writing his own lyrics to familiar melodies to mark birthdays, celebrations, and other special occasions. These became something of a trademark, combining his musical ability and wit with his enjoyment of celebrating the people around him.

Joel was determined to catalog the artwork of his aunt, Mildred (Dodo) Freidenberg, whose life was cut short in a tragic airplane accident. Joel devoted considerable time and care to assembling and producing a coffee-table book of her works. The catalog remains treasured by family and friends and reflects something important about Joel: his attachment to family, history, and memory.

Dogs were another constant in his life. His love for them went back to Buddy, the Finkelstein family’s first dog. As Joel packed his footlocker for his first overnight summer camp, Buddy climbed in and sat there, seemingly determined to share the adventure. It became an enduring family memory. From Buddy through the dogs who followed over the years to Sydney, the Golden Retriever who was his companion at the end of his life, Joel remained a devoted dog lover.

Joel was predeceased by his parents, Ted and Jane Finkelstein. He is survived by his brother, James Finkelstein; his sister-in-law, Laurie Ferreri; his beloved Golden Retriever, Sidney; his cousins; his closest and oldest childhood friends, Mark Levy and Mark Brown; and many other friends, colleagues, former students, and patients whose lives he touched.

Joel leaves an extraordinary professional legacy. His research will continue to influence medicine, and the physicians and scientists he taught and mentored will carry forward what they learned from him. But those who knew him best will remember much more: his intelligence and curiosity, his competitive spirit, his humor and creativity, his enthusiasms, his loyalty to family and friends, and his remarkable ability to remember and preserve the people, places, and traditions that mattered to him.

Joel could never be captured by a list of appointments, publications, grants, and/or awards. He was the competitive tennis player who shared a doubles court with his brother; the boy fascinated by baseball who never lost his enthusiasm for the game; the pianist who turned familiar songs into parodies for his friends; the nephew determined to preserve his aunt’s artistic legacy; the devoted dog owner; and the Columbus native who, more than half a century after leaving home, still craved his Rubino’s pizza. A thread connected these seemingly different parts of his life. Joel held on to the people, places, and things that mattered to him.

Joel was an accomplished physician and scientist whose work extended far beyond the city where he grew up. But he was also Ted and Jane’s son; Jim’s brother and tennis partner; a loyal friend; a lover of dogs, music, tennis, and baseball; and, throughout his life, a son of Columbus.

In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate memorial contributions to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.