Dr. Adam Brish
Dr. Adam Brish
SURPRISE, AZ – Dr. Adam Brish, age 93, of Marquette, MI, and Sun City West, AZ passed away Tuesday, September 11, 2018 in Surprise, AZ. Adam was born in Lodz, Poland to Sura and Yeshayahu Brysz. He was a Holocaust survivor, only ultimately surviving by hiding in the Lodz Ghetto with his father, until being liberated by the Russians at the end of World War II.
After the war, he graduated from the University of Lodz in 1951 with a medical degree, and he eventually became a neurosurgeon.
He served in the Polish army as a doctor; however, he was unable to become the head of his unit due to religious discrimination. He left Poland on a tourist visa to visit his father in Israel, never to return to Poland.
When he arrived in Israel, Adam joined the Israeli Defense Force as a neurosurgeon and worked at Tel HaShomer – Israel’s first military hospital. While enlisted with the IDF he was sent by the Israeli government to Ethiopia to help assess the need for neurological facilities in Addis Ababa. He was invited to attend a conferring of degrees with His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie on July 18, 1960.
While at Tel HaShomer, he met Patricia Kühl, who was also working there as a registered nurse. They were soon married and moved to the United States in 1963.
With Patricia, he resided in Brookline, MA and then New Brunswick, NJ. He completed a year of additional training in each location. Next, he took a position in Kenosha, Wisconsin; and Adam and Patricia had their daughter, Susan, there in 1966. That same year, Adam was offered a job as the Upper Peninsula of Michigan’s first neurosurgeon at St. Luke’s Hospital in Marquette, MI. The family relocated to Marquette, MI.
They settled in Marquette and had a son, Harry, in 1969. Adam worked the remainder of his career as the neurosurgeon at Marquette General Hospital. In his private practice, Neurological Surgery Associates, he treated patients from all over the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. At the end of his career, he was honored as one of Marquette General Hospital’s pioneering physicians.
He single-handedly cared for neuroscience patients for more than 27 years. In 1992, the Adam Brish Neurosciences Lecture Award was created in his honor and is presented annually to a neuroscience physician at the Neuroscience Lecture Conference.
Adam was featured in Steven Spielberg’s “Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation” project in July 1998.
Adam retired in 1993 and spent his winters in Sun City West, AZ while continuing to spend summers in Marquette.
He passed away on September 11, 2018 surrounded by his loved ones.
He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Patricia Brish; daughter Susan Brish (spouse Scott Arden); son Harry Brish (spouse Maureen Brish); and three grandchildren: Joshua Arden, Miriam Arden, and Solomon Brish.