Dr. Harold Gerstein

July 22nd, 2014

Our hearts and prayers go out to Bernice and the rest of the Gerstein family. I personally owe Hal a tremendous amount of appreciation for accepting me into his postgraduate program after graduating from dental school in 1983. Hal was more than a mentor to many of us, he was our friend and treated each of us as family. I was lucky to be close to Hal as a senior resident and was privy to many talks about endodontics and life in general. He encouraged me to write several articles for the Journal of Endodontics which I never thought I’d do except he said it was good experience. He encouraged all of his students to sit for the board exams and was very proud each time one of his students passed and obtained Diplomate status. One of my most vivid memories of Hal was an a lake excursion when he took several of us fishing on his boat in lake Geneva and we became lost and didn’t return until dark. To this day I don’t think he had any idea or clue where we were on that lake until we pulled up to the dock. Then while we were putting the boat back on the trailer, Hal slipped and tore his bicep. He looked like Popeye with one big muscle. We’ll miss Hal very much but most importantly we’ll miss his integrity, his smile and his spirit of excellence. Hal by my standards was one of a kind. A true gentleman but by no means a saint. He taught me how to be a professional, a good clinician and a better person. I couldn’t have asked for a better role model than you. May God bless you.

~Daniel and Christy Stamos
~former student and friend, class of 1983, Lee’s Summit, Missouri

July 17th, 2014

Very sad and tragic news. My heartfelt condolences to Bernice and the Gerstein family. Dr.Gerstein accepted me into the postgraduate program in Endodontics at Marquette University in 1984, on learning about my work with Nickel Titanium root canal files. He was a visionary and recognized early on how path breaking this invention will be to our field in Endodontics. How right he was, Ni-Ti is the revolutionary concept that is utilized worldwide and our specialty of Endodontics and Dentistry benefited immensely . When I graduated in 1986, he encouraged me to stay on as faculty as he felt we had much unfinished work.He groomed me to take on many challenges and to take over as Program Director at Marquette. Dr. Gerstein was a genius who could think outside the box and encouraged and groomed a novice like myself to reach my full potential. Dr.Gerstein would write to my father complementing him on raising a “good son”. My father kept this letter as a badge of honor and would get very emotional every time he would read it. It is so refreshing to see Him display this kind of sincerity, love for his students, faculty and staff. He was a talented Clinician, a remarkable teacher with an intellect and a wit to match. We all aspired to be like “Hal”. Our Specialty of Endodontics lost one of the founding fathers of Endodontics and we are all indebted to him to take our Specialty to gain new heights and recognition. Bernice and Hal hosted many lunches and dinners when we visited their home in Lake Geneva. I was like many others feel very blessed to have him touch our lives at a personal and professional level. “Hal”, as we all lovingly called him was the head of our Endodontic family and he always cared and asked about his extended Endodontic family all through his remarkable life.Farewell! my Teacher, my Mentor, my Friend, you gave us so much and asked for nothing, you will be missed by all of us. Rest in peace, God will have a special place for You. You will live in our hearts and mind forever. Bernice, be strong in this time of grief. I am sure Hal will still keep an eye on all of us.

~Harmeet Walia
~former student and faculty at Marquette, Newberry, Florida