Conrad Brahin, radiologist in Pa., N.J.
When he was growing up near 17th and Diamond Streets in North Philadelphia in the 1920s and 1930s, Conrad M. Brahin lived in the apartment above a pharmacy and soda counter owned by his parents.
When he was growing up near 17th and Diamond Streets in North Philadelphia in the 1920s and 1930s, Conrad M. Brahin lived in the apartment above a pharmacy and soda counter owned by his parents.
The pharmacy was run by his father, Samuel, an immigrant from Kiev, in what is now Ukraine, who had graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.
"He ran deliveries for my grandfather [and] encountered some situations where people were trying to rob him," Conrad Brahin's son, Jason, said.
Dangerous, but not enough to dissuade him from his interest in medicine, his son said.
On Thursday, Dec. 31, Dr. Brahin, 91, of Cherry Hill, radiology department chairman at Rancocas Valley Hospital from 1961 to 1983, died at home.
A 1941 graduate of Central High School, Dr. Brahin studied for three years at the University of Pennsylvania before the Army required him to spend a World War II year as a stateside medic.
Dr. Brahin graduated in 1948 from what was then Hahnemann Medical College and was board-certified in radiology in 1954.
He had never received his Penn diploma because of his Army requirement, his son said, but the university gave it to him in 2000, on the same day that Dr. Brahin's son Eric received his own Penn degree.
In high school and college, Dr. Brahin helped pay his bills by playing clarinet and saxophone in jazz clubs in Philadelphia and Atlantic City.
"When he was 14," Jason said, "he spent a summer with musicians in Atlantic City, without any supervision," from his family.
"He played the whole summer with a band, unheard of" in 1939, his son said. But after his school years, he played no more.
In the 1950s, Dr. Brahin opened a radiology practice in Levittown, and continued in that office after he became a founder of Rancocas Valley when it opened in 1961.
Medical problems forced him to close his Levittown office in 1983, the same year that he resigned from the hospital staff, his son said.
During his days as a physician, Dr. Brahin owned a twin-engine, single-wing Beechcraft Baron, which he flew often on weekend family outings. Or farther.
"He would grab a friend, fly to Chicago, have dinner, and fly back," his son said.
He was a member of Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill.
Trudy Gross, a retired Medford high school teacher and family friend for more than 30 years, recalled him as "a very diverse guy. He could talk intelligently about a lot of topics. A very gregarious type of guy."
Besides his sons, Dr. Brahin is survived by his wife, Judith; sons Jeffrey and Lee, five grandchildren; and his former wife, Judith Freeman.
A visitation was set from 1:15 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 10, at Platt Memorial Chapels, 2001 Berlin Rd., Cherry Hill, before a 2 p.m. funeral service there, with interment in Locustwood Memorial Park, Cherry Hill.
Donations may be sent to Canine Partners for Life at http://k94life.org.
Condolences may be offered to the family at www.plattmemorial.com.
610-313-8134 @WNaedele