1930

30 I can visualize the tabloid headlines: "DARTMOUTH 1930; YALE Ph.D. 1935; HIGH SCHOOL 1989." Or: "HIGH SCHOOL DROP-OUT GRADUATES FROM DARTMOUTH AND YALE." So what's this, another Dave Henderson? No, actually, it's our own Dr. MaxKenneth Horwitt, who has climbed the ladder of success in higher education, starting with a (delayed) B.A. at Dartmouth and a doctorate in biochemistry from Yale, and progressing through positions of laboratory assistant, research fellow, associate professor, director of research, division director, field director, professor, and finally professor emeritus of biochemistry, Division of Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine at the St. Louis University School of Medicine. All

Even then he wasn't home free. Once in Hanover he was overwhelmed by all that was available to him, and he spent most of his time in the chemistry lab and Baker Library pursuing subjects of compelling interest to his inquiring mind but to the neglect of his classes, with the result that he lacked sufficient credits to graduate in June 1930. However, an A in bacteriology at Columbia summer school gave him enough for his Dartmouth degree in September 1930.

All through his life and career Max was troubled by the fact that he hadn't graduated from high school. In 1988, however, Max's sister, without telling Max, took the initiative and wrote to the New York City Board of Education, submitting evidence of Max's Dartmouth and Yale degrees, and even his Who's Who listings, and in January 1989 Max received his Townsend Harris diploma. Nothing, he says, no degree, award, or honor over the years, has moved him so much as seeing his name on that diploma.