David Walter Weiss

Background

David Walter Weiss was born on July 6, 1927, in Vienna, Austria, to Hillel and Julie (Kohn) Weiss. arrived in Israel, 1968. In 1968, David immigrated to Israel.

Education

In 1949, David Walter Weiss received a Bachelor of Arts from Brooklyn College (now of the City University of New York). In 1952, he received a Ph.D. in microbiology from Rutgers University, and a Ph.D. in medicine from Oxford University in 1957.

Career

From 1952 to 1955, David Walter Weiss began to work as research assistant from Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. From 1956 to 1957, he was a director of tuberculosis unit at Oxford University, Medical Research Council. He also was an assistant professor at the University of California in Berkeley, from 1957 to 1960, associate professor from 1960 to 1965, professor of bacteriology and immunology from 1965 to 1967. He also was a research immunologist at Cancer Research Genetics Laboratory from 1962 to 1967, lecturer in zoology from 1975 to 1978 and research professor at Miller Institute of Basic Research in Science from 1966 to 1967. Weiss also worked at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as a professor and chair of Lautenberg Center for General and Tumor Immunology at Hadassah Medical School, beginning 1967, professor emeritus and member of board of governors from 1986 to 1990. From 1977 to 1978, he was a visiting professor at Mount Sinai Hospital and Medical School in New York. In 1988, he became a chair of academic committee at the Center for Medical Ethics.

Upon obligatory retirement at age sixty-eight David decided to call a halt to his career in medical science. He took up a second, new career in writing. He also wrote a series of short stories based on encounters with Arabs in Israel and Jordan, which have been positive and led to new friendships. David and his wife were active in Israel's peace movements and were studying spoken Arabic, to communicate in that language as well as with their large circle of Arab friends. Until 1995 David had refused all contact with Austria and Austrians, the memories of his life there during the six months after the Anschluss in 1938 to Nazi Germany having been those of vicious persecution. However, having returned in 1995 at the invitation of Protestant and Catholic groups in his former hometown, close friendships developed there. Weiss had returned repeatedly since then and have become active in the building of new bridges with Austrian students, teachers, and scientists. His book, Reluctant Return: A Survivor's Journey to an Austrian Town, was published in 1999 and has been translated into German.

Achievements

• David Walter Weiss has been listed as a noteworthy Immunologist. He was a contributor to medical journals and other periodicals, including Judaism and Hadassah.
  
  

Works

More photos

• book

  • Tumor Antigenicity and Approaches to Tumor Immunotherapy: An Outline

    (This volume is not intended as review of the large litera...)

    1980
  • Reluctant Return: A Survivor’s Journey to an Austrian Town (Jewish Literature and Culture)

    (David Weiss is an eminent biomedical scientist, now livin...)

    1999
  • Immunological parameters of host-tumor relationships. 1987
  • The Wings of the Dove: Jewish Values, Science and Halachah 1987

Views

David Walter Weiss believed it is important to emphasize that many encounters between Jews and Muslim and Christian Arabs are not hostile but, rather, humane and friendly.

Membership

David Walter Weiss was a member of the Israel Immunological Society, Transplantation Society, American Association for Cancer Research, American Association of Immunologists, British Society of Immunology, Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland and New York Academy of Sciences.

Interests

• Avocations: running, fishing, classical music, English and German literature.

Connections

In 1951, David Weiss married Judith Weintrob. They have three children: Hillel Jonathan, Joshua Micah and Jeremy Moses.

Father:

Hillel Weiss

Mother:

Julie (Kohn) Weiss

Spouse:

Judith Weintrob

Son:

Hillel Jonathan Weiss

Son:

Jeremy Moses Weiss

Son:

Joshua Micah Weiss