Minnie Weinberg

Minnie Weinberg, age 102 was born on July 1, 1913 in Glen Ullin, North Dakota to Jennie and Charles Weinberg. She was predeceased by her brother Isador Weinberg,sister Pauline Rapaport and sister Rose Alpert. She is survived by her sister Eva Trembowler, niece Karen Zwaan, nephew Johan Zwaan M.D.,great niece Allegra Zwaan,great nephews Alex and Andrew Zwaan of San Antonio and niece and nephew Bev and Bruce Alpert of Israel.

Aunt Minnie was employed in the healthcare field for over 60 years. In 1969 Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia made a decision to implement a kidney transplant program. Integral to the development of that program was the creation of a Histocompatibility Laboratory that could clearly define organ compatibility. She was chosen to head this project and studied at UCLA under the tutelage of Dr. Paul Terasaki. She was a participant in the 1970 Terasaki Workshop, still considered to be the meeting that determined benchmark testing and terminology for all organ transplantation. Upon her return to Philadelphia, Aunt Minnie assumed her duties as Supervisor of Histocompatibility, built the laboratory, and put it in service in 1972. Soon thereafter, Hahnemann performed the first kidney transplant in Philadelphia. She remained in this position until her retirement. Although technologies have changed in the intervening years, the core foundation of the laboratory developed by Minnie remains intact and has supported thousands of successful transplants.

She was the Blood Bank supervisor,clinical lab teacher and mentor and was in charge of the hospital donor center that helped replace units of blood used by the patients. She taught both certificate and BS degree programs. Along with all of this she was in charge of paternity testing. She was instrumental in setting up the protocol for the collection and pre surgery workup of the blood units for open heart surgery. She also worked with the reknowned Dr. Michael DeBakey for a short while.

In her spare time she loved to entertain the lab staff, medical students, family and friends.

My family always looked forward to an enjoyable visit with her.

She lived a long productive life and will be greatly missed.

The family would like to thank John Galan M.D.,Dan Leonard D.D.S. for compassionate care that extended above and beyond. We would also like to thank the nurses at River City Hospice.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the charity of your choice.

A visitation will be held at Sunset North Funeral Home 910 N. Loop 1604 East on Wednesday, January 13 from 6-8 pm.

Interment will be on January 19 at 10 am at Mt. Zion Cemetery, Maspeth, Queens, New York.