Saturday, March 10, 2012

This Day in History March 10, 1980

Well, being a doctor does not necessarily mean that you will live a long life.  And it does not mean that you will not have enemies.  If Dr. Herman Tarnower were still alive, he would corroborate this sentiment.  But it was on this date in 1980 that he was murdered.  Read on for more about him.

He was born March 18, 1910 in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish immigrants.  He went on to become a doctor who specialized in cardiology.  Following WWII, he founded the Scarsdale Medical Center and became very well-known in high-end social circles.  He had a diet that he recommended to his clients, and he was finally persuaded to write The Scarsdale Medical Diet which was ublished in 1979.  It became extremely popular.

The good doctor was a bachelor who had plenty of women throughout his life.  But he had a long-term relationship with Jean Harris for several years.  He then began another relationship with a secretary, and that became his undoing.  Harris took a gun the evening of murder to the doctor's home.  According to her testimony, she planned on talking with him.  Her plan, supposedly, was suicide.  She was jealous when she saw the remnants of the other woman, and she and the doctor struggled.  The gun went off, and he was shot and killed.  She was sentenced to jail for 15 years on a charge of second degree murder.  She was released after 13 years due to poor health.

My mom had heard of this diet, and she didn't know that the author was dead.  I had never heard of this diet nor the author before, but I must say it is quite a story.

For more information, please check out:
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/24/weekinreview/jan-17-23-former-headmistress-freed-jean-harris-69-frail-paroled-for-1980-murder.html?src=pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Tarnower
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/women/harris/6.html
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSsr=81&GSmpid=45426922&GRid=10712&

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