Background
He was born in Dinaberg, Russia (now Daugavpils, Latvia), May 2, 1868 of Jewish parents, Bernard and Sophia Sachs. His father, a well-to-do merchant.
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He was born in Dinaberg, Russia (now Daugavpils, Latvia), May 2, 1868 of Jewish parents, Bernard and Sophia Sachs. His father, a well-to-do merchant.
His father gave him a good education in the Kherson High School and the University of Odessa, from which he was graduated in law in 1891. Later he attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons (later affiliated with the University of Illinois). He graduated in 1895.
After graduation he emigrated to America and settled in Chicago, where he became a sewing-machine operator for a clothing manufacturing firm and thus supported himsef. After two years as intern and house physician at Michael Reese Hospital, established his office in the Jewish quarter of Chicago's west side.
From the first he had an especial interest in tuberculosis. In 1900 he established in the Jewish Aid Dispensary the first clinic in Chicago devoted exclusively to patients suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, and awoke a storm of protest by denouncing the neglect of tuberculous patients at the county institutions at Dunning and Oak Forest. In 1905 he was attending physician to a camp for tuberculous patients at Glencoe, the first of its kind in the state; later there were established a camp at Dunning and the Edward Sanitarium at Naperville, where he was director and examining physician from its foundation to his death.
He was in the forefront of the campaign successfully waged in 1909 for the establishment of the Chicago Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium, begun in 1911 and completed in 1915. As secretary of the first board of directors and later its head, he exercised much influence upon the plans of the buildings and upon the organization of its services.
Sachs submitted his resignation on Mar. 20, 1916, and two weeks later committed suicide by morphine poisoning at the Edward Sanitarium, leaving a letter addressed to the people of Chicago that called for an inquiry into the affairs of the sanitarium and protested against its exploitation by politicians. A report of the finance committee of the Chicago city council later exonerated the sanitarium board of charges of any misuse of public funds.
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Quotations: "My service to the Sanitarium during the last six years has been prompted by the earnest desire to give the best in me to this community in which I have resided during the last twenty-seven years. . .. I have refused to betray the community that has given me confidence. I have great faith in the city of Chicago and its citizens. I have passed through ten months of continuous nightmare in trying to avert the politicalization of a great institution. But I find it impossible to continue. Single-handed at present I cannot fight a big political machine. "
He was an oppressively serious person, with an habitual expression of sadness. He was usually preoccupied, overwrought and nervous, and frequently highly irritable; furthermore, though lavish in sacrifice of his personal interest and with total disregard of pecuniary gain, he loved honors, which he sought and earned. It was probably on account of these personal qualities that, in spite of his ability and sincerity, he never achieved the support of the medical profession of Chicago but always met either apathetic unconcern or secret opposition.
He was greatly assisted in his investigations and writings by his wife, Lena Louise Wilson of Chicago, whom he married Jan. 4, 1900.