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Leonard and Madlyn Abramson(Courtesy of the family(<\/p>\n
Leonard and Madlyn Abramson
(Courtesy of the family(<\/p>\n
Leonard Abramson, who rose from a difficult childhood in Philadelphia\u2019s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood to build one of the nation\u2019s major healthcare companies and become a leading philanthropist in medicine and Jewish life, died on July 4. He was 93.<\/p>\n
Abramson was best known as the founder of U.S. Healthcare, the managed care company he sold to Aetna in 1996 in a deal reported at more than $8 billion. But that was only part of his life, his two daughters said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was extremely family-oriented,\u201d said Nancy Wolfson. \u201cFamily really meant everything to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abramson was born on Nov. 12, 1932, the only child of Joseph and Zipporah Abramson. His father was an immigrant, a cantor and kosher butcher, and his mother was a homemaker.<\/p>\n
He did not talk much about his childhood, his daughters said. It was not a happy one. But it shaped him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was extremely poor, and he worked very hard to succeed,\u201d Judy Felgoise said. \u201cHe drove a taxi to put himself through pharmacy school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abramson attended the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. His wife, Madlyn, a schoolteacher, also helped him pay for school after they married. He worked first in pharmacy and medical equipment sales, though his daughter said he did not love pharmacy itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he just needed a career,\u201d Felgoise said. \u201cHe was sort of guided that this was a good way to start a career. He pivoted so many times after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those pivots led him into hospital management and to the creation of HMO of Pennsylvania, which became U.S. Healthcare. His daughters said he saw a void in the healthcare system and believed there was a better way to deliver care.<\/p>\n
Abramson was driven, determined and intensely focused, they said. He also cared about the people who worked for him. Wolfson said former employees still write warmly about him in a private Facebook group for U.S. Healthcare employees, remembering \u201cMr. A.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was very well respected, and he cared tremendously about his employees,\u201d Wolfson said.<\/p>\n
That concern showed during the sale of U.S. Healthcare to Aetna, his daughters said. Felgoise recalled that Abramson called off the deal at one point because he believed too many employees would be fired.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018I will not allow you to come in and destroy this and fire all these people,\u2019\u201d Felgoise said.<\/p>\n
Abramson told his family that honesty, integrity and loyalty were the three qualities they should live by.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said that all the time,\u201d Wolfson said.<\/p>\n
After the Aetna sale, Abramson did not really retire. He consulted, served on boards and continued going to his family\u2019s office until the Friday before he died, Felgoise said.<\/p>\n
He also had a creative side. In later years, he painted, kept bonsai trees, played piano, gardened and enjoyed boating. He had a vacation home in Maine, where he liked to spend summers.<\/p>\n
But his largest public legacy may be the philanthropy he and Madlyn built together.<\/p>\n
Madlyn Abramson was treated for cancer at Penn when the cancer center was much smaller. The care she received helped inspire the couple\u2019s commitment to cancer care and research.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey really wanted to make sure that every cancer patient received the best quality care and the same kind of care that she was able to get,\u201d Wolfson said.<\/p>\n
Their support helped build what became the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Wolfson said her parents were especially committed to research, including early support for Dr. Carl June, whose work helped lead to CAR T-cell therapy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey focused on funding research and trying to eradicate cancer in their lifetime,\u201d Wolfson said.<\/p>\n
The couple also supported the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Pediatric Research Center at Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia. Felgoise said healthcare and Philadelphia both mattered deeply to her parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey wanted to support institutions in Philadelphia,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Abramsons also gave to Jewish causes and institutions, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. The Madlyn and Leonard Abramson Center for Jewish Life in North Wales was named for them. Wolfson said her parents wanted older Jewish adults to have a safe and caring place to live.<\/p>\n
They belonged to synagogues wherever they lived. Their affiliations included congregations Beth Sholom, Beth Or, Tiferet Bet Israel and synagogues in Florida and Maine.<\/p>\n
Jewish life was also central at home. Felgoise said her mother hosted large Passover Seders, Chanukah parties and sukkah parties, and welcomed anyone who needed a place to go.<\/p>\n
Support for Israel was important to the couple. Felgoise said they visited Israel many times, had friends there, supported causes there and were early supporters of Birthright Israel. Abramson was also involved with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Most recently, he donated to a Federation effort to combat antisemitism.<\/p>\n
Wolfson said her parents taught their children and grandchildren that giving back was a responsibility. They helped large institutions, but they also helped people privately and often anonymously.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey instilled in everybody \u2014 in the family, the grandchildren, the daughters \u2014 that if you have the ability to help others, it\u2019s your responsibility,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Near the end of his life, Abramson remained proud of his family and what he and Madlyn had done for the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a very loving, generous, smart husband,\u201d Wolfson said. \u201cHe was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, and will be truly missed by many people who knew him well and by the lives that he touched.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance obituary writer. She welcomes suggestions for individuals who had meaningful ties to the Philadelphia Jewish community. Email csix@midatlanticmedia.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leonard and Madlyn Abramson(Courtesy of the family( Leonard Abramson, who rose from a difficult childhood in Philadelphia\u2019s Strawberry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[182,77194,2252,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-245819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-local-news","tag-news-obit","tag-obituary","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}