Michael Bressack – 50th Reunion Essay

Michael Bressack

21 Osage Ave

Los Altos, California 94022

phoebearch@gmail.com

408-605-0933

Spouse(s): Phoebe Goodman Bressack (1972)

Child(ren): Leah Bressack (1983); Gabrielle Bressack (1988)

Education: University of Pennsylvania, MD, 1973

Career: Pediatric Intensive Care, Montreal Children’s Hospital, Stanford Hospital, Santa Clara Valley Medical Centre; Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University

College: Trumbull

I happen to be visiting Paris in May of 2018, 50 years after being arrested and spending the night in a Paris jail during the 1968 French student protest. This represented our incredible years at Yale. I started off as a typical very boring and uptight kid from Springfield, Massachusetts, admitted to Yale because I met “Inky” Clark when he visited Mount Hermon School. At the end of freshman year my mind was “opened” after I began experimenting with drugs. I remember going to the Dave Brubeck concert at the New Haven green and realizing everything had changed. Then came our involvement in the anti-Vietnam war and civil rights movements. During all of this I felt the need to succeed academically, join a singing group, and, of course, spend a lot of time sharing my life with close friends. During my senior year I was in a secret society, which was a continuous T-group.

After I graduated I went to medical school, suspecting that I might like helping people, but also because I was reasonably good in science and felt this was an obvious next step. As it turned out, this was exactly what has worked for me. I knew from my experiences at Yale that I find “meaning” in life when I interact with individuals, not with organizations. I first felt this when I went to the party at Kingman Brewster’s house freshman year. I observed how well he functioned as the leader of a university, inspiring all of us. That was not and is not me. My spirituality appears when I care for a sick and dying child (I have been a pediatric intensive care doctor). Early in medical school I knew that I felt comfortable and connected to sick children and able to console and guide their families. I also have truly enjoyed teaching medical students and pediatric residents about medicine, medical ethics, and how to deal with the end of life.

I will be retiring this year. So far it’s been easy to find meaning in life by being of service to my patients and families. It will be a challenge to find a way to continue to be of service to others.

My greatest good fortune has been my family. I have been married to my wife for 46 years and have two daughters. As challenging as the years were dealing with my daughters growing up, my wife and I are very much enjoying spending a lot of time with our adult children.