Beneath the street sign bearing the name of her late husband, Dr. Saul Farber, Doris, his widow, is joined by Dr. Martin Blaser, who succeeded Dr. Farber as chair of the Department of Medicine.

The Great White Coat Way

For generations of physicians who trained here, the late Saul Farber, MD, longtime dean of NYU School of Medicine and provost of NYU Langone Medical Center, was part beacon, part compass—an illuminating presence who inspired them intellectually, a force of nature who guided them morally. So when a street sign was recently installed on the northwest corner of 30th Street and First Avenue to honor the man so many relied upon to help them navigate the uncharted waters and vast uncertainties of medicine, it was only fitting that it read: "Dr. Saul J. Farber Way."

"I’m glad it wasn’t called ‘boulevard,’ ‘avenue,’ or ‘street,’ " Martin Blaser, MD, the Frederick H. King Professor of Medicine and Dr. Farber’s successor as chair of the Department of Medicine, told the large group of faculty, friends, and members of the Farber family who gathered in Alumni Hall on November 15 to celebrate the street naming. "Dr. Farber showed us the way in the same manner as Confucius’s elders, the great Zen masters, and the scholars of the Talmud. I’m happy to report that New York City got it right."

Dr. Farber’s former students, colleagues, friends, and family warmly recalled his lifelong devotion to NYU Langone and Bellevue, whose patients Dr. Farber often described as "our teachers." Reflecting on Dr. Farber’s reverence for patients, Robert I. Grossman, MD, the Saul J. Farber Dean and CEO of NYU Langone, noted, "Dr. Farber created a generation of patient-centered physicians and educators, and they, in turn, created another generation of patient-centered physicians and educators. That, indeed, is his remarkable legacy, and it is one that distinguishes NYU School of Medicine from all others."

The campaign to co-name the street—another named street sign was already in place—was spearheaded by Medical Center trustee Lola Finkelstein, president of the Bellevue Association, who helped garner community support and petition the New York City Council for approval. Following a lengthy, rigorous review process, the legislation was signed into law last year by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, who championed the legislation, noted at the reception that co-namings require a nexus between the street and the individual to be honored. Finkelstein credited Daniel Roses, MD, the Jules Leonard Whitehill Professor of Surgery and Oncology, for establishing that connection in two "scholarly and passionate" presentations to the community board.

"What could be more appropriate and deserving," explains Dr. Roses, "than naming the street that leads to our Medical Center—with NYU Langone to the left and Bellevue to the right—after a native New Yorker who was the principal architect in joining these two institutions to form the greatest center of medical care and education in New York?"