Correction Appended
Aaron Rausen '51 who attended Dartmouth from 1947 to 1950 and served as chief of pediatric oncology at New York University Langone Medical Center for 16 years died of pancreatic cancer last Wednesday at Calvary Hospital Hospice in Bronx, N.Y., according to a statement released by his daughter, Susan Drewes. Rausen was 80 years old.
Rausen left Dartmouth after his junior year to attend medical school at the State University of New York College of Medicine on a full scholarship.
Rausen received the Spirit of '51 award from the Class of 1951, an honor that recognizes outstanding members of the class, Miller said.
Rausen joined the Langone Center in 1981 and specialized in pediatric treatment, according to the center's website. In 1990 he was named founding director of the Stephen D. Hassenfeld Children's Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at the Langone Center. Rausen retired from the position in 1997, but continued to research and practice medicine until his death, according to Drewes.
"He was smarter than Albert Einstein, with less hair and a bigger heart," Drewes said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Through his work at the Hassenfeld Center, which combines medicine with social and psychological support in the treatment of cancer, Rausen developed techniques for children to "treat themselves," including practices that encourage young patients to self-monitor their chemotherapy treatment, according to the statement.
"If I enlist them as aides in their own treatment, there is better compliance and survivorship," Rausen told The New York Times in 1992.
Although Rausen "devoted his life" to his field, he did not boast of his accomplishments to friends, according to Henry Nachman '51 Tu '55, who first became friends with Rausen when the two attended Stuyvesant High School in New York City before coming to Dartmouth.
"He didn't sit around and talk about his profession," Nachman said. "We wouldn't have understood it anyhow."
Rausen also related to his patients, keeping "a child in his heart" while treating them, Drewes said.
"He was able to be on their level while understanding the children," she said.
Rausen an intellectual who read The New York Times front to back every day had a less serious side as well, Drewes said.
"His favorite [newspaper], although he wouldn't like to admit it, was what we called The Pink Paper' The New York Observer," she said.
Rausen maintained a balance between the seriousness of his work and his lighthearted personal nature, according to Nachman.
"He was a rather serious person, but very friendly," Nachman said. "You can be both."
At a party at the Hassenfeld Center, Rausen once used a medical instrument to uncork a wine bottle when no bottle opener was available, Drewes said.
"So that was kind of the running joke that he was the only one that could open a bottle of wine with a spinal-tap tool," she said.
Rausen's success in his field did not affect his attitude towards others, according to Drewes.
"As long as somebody was interesting and honest, and had a good story and was willing to listen, that's all that mattered to him," Drewes said.
Rausen treated underprivileged patients without health insurance at no cost to the patients, the statement said.
Although Rausen did not flaunt his accomplishments, he was willing to use his expertise to those who asked for advice, according to Nachman.
"If anyone in the class had a problem that he felt he could help with a medical problem [Rausen] was very forthcoming," Nachman said, adding that Rausen would help friends locate good doctors in their residential areas. "He'd point you in the right direction."
The son of Lithuanian immigrants in New York City, Rausen came from humble origins, according to Drewes.
"He didn't even know that [Dartmouth] would provide him with a desk, so they literally strapped a desk onto his uncle's car," Drewes said.
Rausen majored in English at the College and worked for the Dartmouth radio station WDBS. He also served as managing editor of the Dartmouth Quarterly, a medical journal, according to Drewes's statement.
Rausen is survived by his wife, Emalou Watkins, three children and three grandchildren, according to the statement.
