All I can say it is damn peculiar:
"Boston doctor who treated COVID patients in N.Y. dies climbing mountain in Pakistan" by Travis Andersen Globe Staff, January 20, 2021
A prominent Boston doctor who was killed Jan. 16 in a mountain climbing accident in Pakistan had gone to New York to treat COVID-19 patients at the height of the pandemic and led a life that was “beyond inspirational,” his son said Wednesday.
Alex Goldfarb, who was affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, went missing on Broad Peak in Pakistan, the 12th highest summit in the world. His body was found two days later close to the summit, according to the tour company that led a climbing expedition Dr. Goldfarb had joined.
Asghar Ali Porik, owner of Jasmine Tours Pakistan, wrote in a Facebook post that Dr. Goldfarb had opted to continue scaling the mountain after another climber decided against it because of “dangerous conditions.”
Dr. Goldfarb, who was 57, would “shoulder any burden for those he loved,” his son, Levi Goldfarb, 24, wrote in a tribute on a GoFundMe page. “If asked what his greatest achievement was, Alex would no doubt mention his family,” he wrote. “We knew that he would do anything for us — we never had to worry, because he would shoulder any burden for those he loved. He was a great man, and I am proud to be his son.”
In a phone interview, Levi Goldfarb said everything his father touched “turned to gold.” Beyond being a caring doctor who gave his cell number to all his patients, he was also a widely published medical writer, avid mountain climber, and runner who had completed dozens of marathons. “This is a person who was always warm, always kind to those around him,” he said. Whenever people felt down, his father “had no problem being the only one elevating everyone’s spirits and keeping things a little more lighthearted,” he added.
In the past few days, he has received messages and tearful calls from people around the world who knew his father, he said. The messages speak to his father’s “position as a person who would take anyone’s call, and who would do everything he could to solve anyone’s problems,” he said.
Dr. Goldfarb was a devout Jew who lived by the principle of Tikkun Olam, which translates into “repair” or “restoration” of the world and serves as a call for the faithful to leave the planet a better place than when they came into it, his son said.
“It’s something he lived every single day of his life,” he said.
On the GoFundMe page, Levi Goldfarb wrote that his father came to the US from Russia soon after the fall of the Soviet regime and later received two doctorates, becoming a professor of medicine at Harvard University.
We are now becoming them.
“He went on to have a stunning academic career, publishing over 70 peer-reviewed publications and several books, the most recent of which was the first Critical Care Medicine book to include a chapter on COVID,” he wrote. His father’s life was “beyond inspirational,” he said. “Imagine coming to a foreign country in your 30s, learning the language, going through medical training, and ending up” on the Harvard faculty, he said. “To me, it’s unfathomable.”
His father taught him that someone’s “true character” reveals itself in difficult circumstances, Levi Goldfarb wrote. When the pandemic hit, “most people—myself included—preferred to stay home and keep themselves safe,” he wrote. “Alex sought out the epicenter of the pandemic on the Eastern Seaboard —Elmhurst hospital [in Queens] — and drove there immediately to treat patients in need.”
In his Facebook post, Porik wrote that Dr. Goldfarb’s companion on the climb felt “uncomfortable” because of the conditions, but Dr. Goldfarb choose to continue. Rescuers searched for Dr. Goldfarb throughout the day on Jan. 17 but “returned in vain,” Porik wrote. They found his body the next day. “Me and my family and staff of Jasmine Tours stand with the family of Alex and friends at this difficult moment,” he wrote.
I'm not trying to rub salt in the wound; however, this story reads so wrong from the initial question of how and what were they doing there during a pandemic when the world is locked down to why is he going ahead with the climb alone (I'm not exactly buying the gung-ho reason and wonder why the companion didn't vociferously protest)?
What did he know working in NYC, huh?
Kevin Jiang, a spokesman for Harvard Medical School, said in an email that Dr. Goldfarb’s death was “such tragic news.” Dr. Goldfarb had been based at Beth Israel, a Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital where he held his primary appointment. He had worked as an assistant professor of medicine at the hospital for more than 13 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“The sadness of your passing pains me so much,” a close friend, Daniel Melul, wrote on Facebook Wednesday. “You were more than just a friend to us, you were family. Your kindness, humor, your heart of gold. I can go on forever.”
Melul wrote that Dr. Goldfarb “spread so much light and laughter in this world. We and our children were blessed to have you as our friend and we will never forget the impact that you made on our lives and you still do.”
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