Joseph Ransohoff

In addition to training numerous neurosurgeons, his "ingenuity in adapting advanced technologies" saved many lives and even influenced the television program Ben Casey.

While attending Harvard he briefly considered leaving the country in order to participate in the Spanish Civil War, motivated by his lifelong socialist sympathies.

In 1962, Ransohoff was invited to become chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the New York University School of Medicine, a prestigious position he held for over thirty years.

While in this capacity, he was famed for hosting a weekly spinal and neurosurgical gathering for doctors of the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to come and seek his advice on challenging cases.

In 1940, he married Dr. Rita Meyer,[1] a psychotherapist who wrote Venus After 40, a book about men's responses to sexuality in older women; they divorced in December 1983.