In Memoriam
Daniel L. Arons
Dan Arons
Dan Arons
1963 graduation
From the Boston Globe;
Daniel L. Arons,
Dr. Daniel L. Age 72, of Cambridge and Wellfleet, formerly of Newton, on
Wednesday, August 6, 2014. For 46 years, he was the beloved husband of Dr.
Elissa (Beron) Arons. Loving father of Rebecca Arons & her husband Eric
Fastiff, Dr. Dara Arons & her husband Jeremy McDiarmid, and Abigail Arons &
her partner Matthew Bennett. Cherished grandfather of Eli and Tessa Fastiff
and Hazel, Leah, and Rose McDiarmid. Dear uncle of Edward and Zachary. Dr.
Arons was a dedicated and caring physician and teacher. Services at Temple
Emanuel, 385 Ward St, Newton on Friday, August 8 at 11:00AM. Burial at
Newton Cemetery, 791 Walnut St., Newton. Following burial memorial
observance will be at his home in Cambridge, Friday until sundown; Saturday
evening after Shabbat; and Sunday and Monday, 2-4PM & 7-9PM. In lieu of
flowers, remembrances may be made to Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer
Center, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA 02114.
from Richard Rosenfeld:
A week before Dan died, I wrote him, "You have been so important to my life, kind of a redeemer of my past."
The past to which I referred was my time at Yale.
My Yale undergraduate experience had been positive in many respects, but it had also been very flawed, due in large part to my own emotional deficits. In consequence of this, as of fifteen years after graduation, I had never returned to Yale, nor made any donations to the alumni fund or otherwise. In my own mind, I had left my Yale experience far behind.
Dan Arons changed all this. Persuading me that I should reconsider my relationship to Yale, Dan got me to join him and other classmates at one of Dan's pre-game tailgate parties by the Harvard Boat House on the Charles River. I had a great time and decided to reconsider my relationship with Yale. Rosenfeld Hall was just one consequence of this.
From his medical practice to his relationship with family and friends, Dan's life was a life in service to others. As a beneficiary of his kindness and his friendship, I will never forget him.
from Philip Boyle:
It is with profound sadness that I inform
you that our Board colleague, Dan Arons, died earlier this week of
esophageal cancer after an 18 month battle. He was a true friend and a
very gentle man. Dan was on our Board from 2002-2005 and was an important
contributor to our work for Yale. He has a long resume of volunteer
activity for Yale, following his graduation from Yale College in 1963 and
the Yale Medical School in 1967. His Yale pedigree reaches back to his
father ('25) and uncle ('18), as well as two of his three daughters ('96 &
'99).
Dan was a primary care physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital for
his entire career in medicine, seeing his patients right up to 10 days
before his death. He held a teaching appointment at the Harvard
Medical School. He and his wife of 46 years, Elissa, also a physician,
lived in Newton for many years before recently moving to Cambridge.
We will miss Dan immensely. The world is a far better place because of him.
RIP Dan Arons.
from Ron Sampson:
I got to know Dan best in the context of Yale activities after graduation. He was always willing to pitch in, whatever the issue, and his counsel was invariably deliberate, thoughtful and on the mark. At the recent memorial service for him one of his daughters recounted that he had the same considered, practical and loving approach to dealing with family: prospective sons-in-law were judged in part on how competent they were in operating a dishwasher, and all three daughters were helpfully admonished: "Girls don't burp at the dinner table!" Our class will miss his kind presence and good counsel. Ron
from Hank Higdon:
I remember seeing Dan on January 8 in Boston
when I called him on one of my frequent business trips there and said I
wanted to stop by and see him in Cambridge in the afternoon, which I did.
We thus spent slightly more than one hour in his relatively new magnificent
apartment overlooking the Charles River and the Harvard playing fields.
I felt I was in heaven. Dan had christened the apartment in November
of 2012, by hosting many of his friends and classmates there, after a
Yale/Harvard game. This of course followed his traditional tailgate on
the river before the game which would require him to show up at about 6:00am
to claim his traditional spot between the boathouse and the bridge, and
immediately across from the stadium.
Dan had just closed on the apartment a day or two before that game in 2012
and thus it had zero furniture in it, but it was still a beautiful setting
for the post-game cocktail party. The apartment on the day of my visit
earlier this year, of course, was fully furnished, absolutely elegant, and
was the space where Dan had hoped to spend his future years with his bride,
Elissa.
It was a wonderful visit with Dan and when I left he rode down on the
elevator with me to say good-bye. He also made sure I did not leave
empty-handed and insisted that I take with me a book on the history of Yale
football, which he had had forever, as well as an empty wine bottle, which
memorialized a Yale/Harvard get-together at the Harvard Club of Boston in
honor of Carm Cozza. It has an appropriate Yale/Harvard label and Dan
thought I would treasure it more than he did. He was right. I
will treasure it forever.
from Robert Barker:
Dan always seemed an island of calm in a sea of turmoil. He had a wonderful, gentle sense of humor, and a gritty stoicism that served him well even as his illness progressed. After graduation our paths crossed occasionally, but not often enough, and each encounter ended with my hoping that we see each other soon. It's hard to accept that 'soon' will never come.
from Mike Skol:
I didn't know Dan at Yale. As with so many of my classmates, we met years later at a reunion (a priority reason to keep going every five years). When Claudia & I discovered that not only did Dan and Elissa have an apartment in Manhattan (only blocks away from ours), but also a house on Cape Cod (a few towns distant, but not that far from ours), the friendship was joined and we saw each other with some frequency. A great couple, always gracious. I remember Dan perhaps best as consistently kind, acutely sensitive to others' feelings (I even found it tough to argue with him about politics: he was so polite in the face of my [occasional] diatribe, that I had to take rhetorical steps backward.) Claudia adds that, whenever she talked with him, she had the feeling that he was listening intently to what she was saying (and not thinking about what he would say next). A great doctor, I assume, carries that bedside manner everywhere.
from Bucky Buxton:
I lived across the hall from Dan in Bingham Hall during Freshman Year. We then roomed together for the next three years in Silliman, along with Kit Wilcox and Ron Alessio (now Allison), across the hall from Bob Barker, Steve Wilson, John Helming, and Kit Sheridan. The eight of us tended to socialize together, and had many memorable (and other) good times. I remember Dan being conscientious, articulate, even-tempered, friendly, fun, fit, and very Yale-spirited (see Phillip Boyle’s Remembrance regarding his Yale family history).
I saw Dan only every few years since then, mainly during my periodic visits to Boston for Harvard medical update courses and recent Yale reunions. He and Lisa (Elissa) were invariably hospitable and kind, and my wife G.G. and I enjoyed keeping up with reports of our families, etc. We kept up a telephone correspondence for the past 2-3 years about our respective medical conditions. Last month we were fortunate to visit Dan and Lisa and most of their extended family at their wonderful Cape Cod home, which was a poignant and very special experience.
I agree with all the previous Remembrances regarding Dan’s character and nature. Warm, calm, wise, humorous, sympathetic, caring, dedicated. He loved his practice, his teaching, his friends, Yale, and his family.
from Avi Nelson:
Dan was quiet and sensitive and of gentle bearing but passionate and resolute about those things that were important to him.
from Carter V. Findley:
Dan Arons was the kind of man who made me glad I went to Yale.
I did not know Dan well at Yale. I certainly knew who he was, and seeing his graduation photo on the memorial website brings back instant recognition. I got to know him better later, mostly through the reunions. At one of the reunions, probably ’03, he and some other docs organized a panel on women’s health issues. My wife and I attended, and we both later followed up on a preventive measure that Dan, specifically, recommended. I remember thinking how thoughtful it was at a Yale reunion, not otherwise noted for being crowded with events designed for women, to have this panel. On another occasion, Dan contacted me to ask if one or more of his daughters could stop over with us in Ohio on her way back from the west coast. Of course, we said yes. I always tell my bicoastal friends that if they ever come out to flyover country, they are bound to run into us, and we’d love to see them. This is one time it happened. Dan’s daughter Dara and my daughter were classmates (Y ’96), and I think they actually saw more of each other than Dan and I had at Yale. The main point: people like Dan make me glad that even I was able to go to Yale.