Jerusalem doctor worked at EMMC Applebaum, daughter among dead in suicide bombing at cafe Tuesday

BANGOR – A suicide bomber took the life of Dr. David Applebaum, who once worked at Eastern Maine Medical Center, along with his daughter and four others, at a cafe in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

“We have always dreaded when this conflict would strike home and now it has,” said Dr. Norm Dinerman, chief of emergency medical service at EMMC, Wednesday.

Applebaum, 50, worked at the Bangor hospital from May 1991 to November 1992 as a temporary physician filling in for permanent staff.

“He was one of our most frequent and frequently requested [temporary] physicians because of his outstanding skills,” said Dinerman. “He was the definition of commitment and passion to emergency medicine, to improvement in the field of emergency medicine and to patient care.”

Applebaum’s daughter Nava, 20, was to be married on Wednesday. The bombing wounded approximately 40 others.

Applebaum worked tirelessly to improve the lives of the people he touched, said friend Jerry Kirstein, a local businessman.

“I met him in Bangor. He was a very bright and articulate guy. He was serious about his work, but he had a fun side as well,” he said. “I’m sure there are a lot of people treated by Dr. Applebaum that remember him for his medical confidence and kindness.”

Applebaum recently had become the director of the emergency room at Shaare Tzedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. He was born in Detroit and educated in Cleveland. An Orthodox Jew, he emigrated to Israel in 1981 but continued to work in the United States. Hours before the bombing, Applebaum gave a speech in New York on how hospitals should prepare for mass terror attacks.

“He was superbly trained and educated, kind, technically gifted and motivated to the extreme,” said Dinerman. “It is indeed a loss to not only his family and Israel, but to the international community of medicine. He was truly one of the pioneers in emergency medicine worldwide, not just in Israel.”

Dinerman said Applebaum set an example for all ER administrators, calling him a brilliant leader and hospital health care designer.

“If I know David, he’s probably setting up an emergency department in heaven right now,” Dinerman said.