Aaron Friedenwald was the youngest son of Jonas Friedenwald; born in
Baltimore Dec. 20, 1836; died there Aug 26, 1902. He entered a business career,
but devoted his spare time to the study of mathematics, general literature, and
German, French, and Hebrew.
At the age of 21, he began the study of medicine at the University of
Maryland. He graduated in the spring of 1860, and soon afterward sailed for
Europe to continue his studies at Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Paris. He devoted
himself especially to ophthalmology throughout his professional life. In 1862,
he returned to Baltimore, and entered the practice of medicine.
In 1873, he was
elected to the professorship of diseases of the eye and ear in the College of
Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore, a position he held until his death. He
soon became a prominent member of the local medical societies and president of
the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland (1889-90); and was a member of
the medical staffs of a number of hospitals.
One of his most important medical achievements was the calling into being
of the influential Association of American Medical Colleges in 1890. He was
among the most active workers in all the local and national Jewish charities
and other associations, was a founder, and for thirty-three years a director,
of the Baltimore Hebrew Orphan Asylum, chairman of the Baron de Hirsch
committee in Baltimore, president of the Baltimore branch of the Alliance
Israélite Universelle, and one of the founders and vice-president of the Jewish
Theological Seminary Association. In 1898 he visited the Holy Land to study the
conditions of the Jewish colonies.
He was a successful
lecturer, and made important contributions to medical literature. His
publications of general interest are a number of addresses on the study of
medicine, the history of hospitals, Jewish immigration, and the Jewish colonies
in Palestine, the most important of them is “Jewish Physicians and the
Contributions of the Jews to the Science of Medicine” (“Publications, Gratz
College,” vol. i., 1897).
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