"I was just looking up Mary for some reason and I was so saddened to see this. I had the privilege of working as an intern for Mary's NIMH neuropathology lab during my final year of high school in 2012. I learned so much in that year and I owe a lot to her. She went above and beyond to help me make the most of this internship. She took every opportunity to teach me and have others teach me. She encouraged me to ask questions and to use all of my available resources. Mary was so dedicated to her work. She is a great female scientist to look up to and I hope to one day have a career that I love as much as Mary clearly loved hers. I had some health problems near the end of my internship and Mary was very understanding about the situation. She was a kind, goodhearted and upbeat person. I'm sure that I don't speak for myself in saying that all of her students and coworkers learned a lot from her. "
In loving memory of
Mary Herman Rubinstein
July 26, 1935 - June 9, 2017
MADISON
Mary Margaret Herman Rubinstein, M.D. was born to Esther Bross Herman and Elmer Fredolein Herman on July 26th, 1935 in Plymouth, Wisconsin. She died on June 9th, 2017.
Mary is survived by twin sisters, Ellen Stephenson and Beth (Jim) Rasmussen, both of Madison, WI; brother, Tim Herman, Verona, WI; and younger twin sisters, Karen (Harry) Carlson, Genesee Depot, WI and Sharen (Jim) Wilson, Old Town, ME. Mary's family is involved in teaching, ceramics and law. All of her siblings and her father attended the UW Madison.
She is also survived by stepchildren and great stepchildren in the San Francisco area, namely, stepdaughter Marion (Jonathan), and stepsons Edmund and Francis (Antoinette); Marion has two grandchildren, Laura and Simon. Mary's husband's other close relatives reside in England.
Fourteen nephews and nieces, 25 great nephews and nieces, and 4 great, great nieces and nephews also survive. A special thank you to Mary's nephew, John Stephenson, Jr. and sister, Elizabeth Rasmussen, who provided great kindness and helpfulness in her last years.
Dr. Rubinstein graduated from the UW with a B.S. in medical science in 1957 and an MD in 1960. She was one of four women in her graduating class. After a year of house staff training at the UW in Neurology, then Dartmouth (rotating internship) and five years at Yale in Pathology/Neuropathology, she continued her neuropathology career at Stanford University in 1965 where she met and worked with Dr. Lucien Rubinstein. They were married in early 1969 and formed a team in neuro-oncology, with special emphasis on childhood brain tumors. She achieved tenure in 1974.
Mary's major efforts were in the laboratory, where at Stanford she developed the three-dimensional organ culture system for the study of the influence of a variety of differentiating agents as a potential alternative treatment for brain tumors. In addition, she was instrumental in leading the laboratory in the use of a mouse teratoma for its potential to differentiate from stem cells into various in vitro and in vivo neural tumors. Both of these areas of research were unique at the time. In addition, she greatly expanded the study of human and experimental brain tumors with the use of electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry and was an early leader in these fields.
Her husband, Lucien Jules Rubinstein, predeceased her on January 22nd, 1990; this was a very harsh blow to their newly developed neuropathology laboratory (1981-1991), their future growth and personal happiness, and future retirement years together.
Mary decided to change her field of research, and in 1991 was fortunate to be chosen for the only available slot in neuropathology at the intramural program of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. She joined Dr. Danny Weinberger's Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health, a group highly regarded for major advances in schizophrenia research. Mary and Joel Kleinman, MD, PhD, head of the Neuropathology Section, built the neuropathology section and worked very hard to develop a brain donation program based on the availability of whole brains, rather than just small tissue samples.
Brain donations required documented permissions from the next of kin. They were often obtained from families whose traditions made them initially hesitant to allow donation. Mary was a leader for advocating the necessity of using human brain material for the study of psychiatric disorders. She gradually extended the cachement of the brain collection from the DC Medical Examiner's Office to two other southeast DC hospitals and the Northern Virginia Medical Examiner's Office. Years of working together on cases were required to gain the trust of these offices.
Mary was also essential in developing the Stanley Fund Brain Collection for nine years as their neuropathologist. As time permitted, she also provided neuropathology expertise to many ongoing projects at the NIMH and National Cancer Institute.
She continued active teaching and diagnostic work throughout her 53-year career, and retired after twenty-three years at the NIMH, in late November, 2013.
Mary viewed her professional life as an attempt to make original research contributions, while helping to protect a fragile subspecialty in pathology. As part of this, the UW School of Medicine and Public Health inaugural chair was established in the new Department of Neuroscience, the "Mary Herman and Lucien Rubinstein Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience." In addition, she contributed her and Lucien's professional papers to create the Rubinstein Herman Archive within the Ebling Library at the Health Sciences Learning Center.
In April 2017 Mary received the 2017 WMAA Medical Alumni Citation Award, given to the most outstanding UW Medical School graduate.
Collecting art was an important component of Mary's life, especially collecting the work of Dirk Holger, of which she had an extensive collection and which she recently donated to the UW Whitewater. Previously, her art collections were donated to the Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, VA and to Frostburg University, Frostburg, MD. She was also physically active, playing competitive but fun tennis with friends and staff at the John Powless Tennis Center. She enjoyed music, especially playing compositions involving the violin and viola.
During the last years of Mary's lymphoma treatments, she was cared for by Dr. Natalie S. Callander at the UW Carbone Center. Together, Mary and Dr. Callander managed to survive a highly malignant tumor for five years, a feat largely due to Dr. Callander's outstanding intuition, dedication and clinical skills.
The family wishes to thank Oakwood Village West, Agrace Hospice and Dr. Natalie Callander and staff of the UW Carbone Cancer Center for their wonderful care.
The Memorial Service for Mary Herman Rubinstein will be held at 2 PM on Saturday, June 24, 2017 in the Oakwood Village University Woods Resurrection Chapel, 6205 Mineral Point Road, Madison, Wisconsin.
In lieu of flowers, contributions to support Dr. Callander's research on lymphoma and myeloma would be greatly appreciated, and can be directed to the Trillium Fund, UW Carbone Cancer Center, 600 Highland Avenue, K4/658, Madison, Wisconsin, 53792-6164.
Please share your memories of Mary.
Cress Funeral & Cremation Service
3610 Speedway Road Madison
(608) 238-3434
Tributes
"I knew Mary, not well, but have a strong and lovely impression of her from our overlapping time at the NIMH Neuropsychiatric Research Hospital on the grounds of St. Elizabeths in Washington DC. She was unfailingly cheerful and unassuming, completely dedicated to her work. Convincing bereaved families to donate their loved ones' brains to neuroscience, and convincing agencies to collaborate, are not easy tasks but Mary became a familiar sight heading out the door with her little cooler into all parts of DC after she had succeeded. She succeeded, no doubt, by bringing the same grace, forthright honesty and goodness that emanated from all her interactions with people. She is missed at the National Institute of Mental Health, as it sounds like she will be missed by many, in many places."
"I first met Mary Herman when one of her sorority sisters, Gwen, asked me to the Alpha Chi Omega Formal Ball in late May 1956. Gwen also asked me to find a date for her good friend, Mary Herman, from my fraternity. Gwen said Margo--as we called her--likes them "tall and smart." I arranged for my roommate to be her date. He was only one year older than me, 6'2", and working on a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. We had almost a month before the Alpha Chi Omega Formal, and we double dated several times. I had a little Volkswagon Beetle to cart us around. We talked about everything under the sun during our dates. Margo said that she wanted to be a doctor since she was in third or fourth grade. One time, Margo talked about her early years at a country school when she often was in a fight with her teachers. Her mother pulled her out, and home schooled her until junior high. Everything went well on our dates and at the Alpha Chi Omega Formal. I was impressed with this young woman and how she knew which direction she wanted in life. I said to myself, what kind of guy is going to marry her?! Five years later, when I was in my final year in law school and she was a first-year resident in neurology at UW, we had lunch together for old times' sake. I had told her that I was apprehensive about graduation, and going out in the world to work as a young lawyer. She admitted being apprehensive, too, as a young woman doctor at that time. I decided not to mention to her that my uncle was an adjunct professor of neurosurgery at UW Medical School, because I was not sure whether he would have treated her fairly or not. She consoled me and said she understood my anxiety because she felt some anxiety competing in a world of male doctors, and then she gave me a great pep talk. I am thankful for her friendship and her positive attitude towards life. I also will always remember her beautiful smile. I will miss her and I am sure she will be missed by many. Sincerely, Stephen Zwicky"
"After residency and fellowship in neuropathology, Mary was my first true mentor at the NIH. I distinctly remember two things she told me (more to do with life than neuropathology). In a conversation regarding Lucien's death, and speaking about its suddenness, she told me "it was good for him, it was not good for me." And as to fellows in the lab, which I then applied to children growing up, she spoke of the natural process of them "dirty-ing the nest," so that you want them to go. She was blessed with wisdom without pretensions. "
"I met Margo a last couple of years ago at Powless Tennis Center. I was new to the sport and she offered me great encouragement through tips and tough competition. She was so competitive and such fun to have on the court. She taught me a great deal, not just about tennis, but about the game of life. I'll miss our breakfasts at Copper Top, our chats before and after tennis matches, her smile, her positive outlook on life, and perhaps most of all, her spunk. (I love this picture.)"