Ernest Shalom Tierkel (July 2, 1917 – November 2, 1981) was an epidemiologist, whose lifelong work in implementing vaccine programs eliminated rabies as a major public health concern in the United States. His work then spread through the World Health Organization (WHO) to the rest of the world. Tierkel came to be known as “Dr. Rabies.”
Early life
Family
His father David Baer Tierkel and his mother Esther Ginsberg Tierkel ensured that their children had all of the strong values that they had brought with them as Jewish immigrants from Ukraine.
Before Ernest was born, Tierkel's father and his family arrived at Ellis Island in the United States on August 1, 1893, on the German ship Meier after a long immigration from the small village of Moliv, in Ukraine. Tierkel's grandfather, Fischel Tierkel, decided that the continued violence against the Jews in Ukraine was not sustainable for raising his family. The family set off for a better life with Fischel, his wife Rachel, son David, and daughters Lura, Emma, and Ethel. They tried living in Heidelberg, Germany for a few years, where David, the eldest child, enrolled in the University, but found that Jews were not met with hospitality in Germany either. The family then set off for The United States. After arriving at Ellis Island on a hot August day in 1893, the Tierkel family eventually settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where a large Eastern-European Jewish population was thriving.
Ernest Tierkel's childhood was driven by a set of values that prioritized education and intellectual pursuit in the Talmudic tradition. Service to the greater society was stressed at all levels of life. Tierkel's father, David, was an author of a number of books, essays, articles, and plays. His father was a tireless advocate for worldwide Zionism as well as a member of a number of scientific institutes. As David B. Tierkel worked to become editor and publisher of a number of newspapers in Philadelphia, Tierkel was surrounded by a focus on academics, poetry, history, and community service. Tierkel's brother Arnold was an accomplished artist, having attended the Philadelphia School of Art and studying in Italy after the war. Both Tierkel and his sister Doris attended and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.
Tierkel's mother had a significant role in running the family business, taking charge of the family newspaper after the death of Tierkel's father in 1948. The children in the house would help publish their newspaper, helping with the typesetting and eventually contributing writing and editing on a wide and varied array of subjects. This environment provided Tierkel with his love of science, theater, history, community, and Zionism. Many a night were spent at the theater or the opera, using the free tickets that came to the newspaper's offices.
But it was not all work at the Tierkel household. During the summers, Esther and the children would spend time in Atlantic City, building sand castles, strolling on the boardwalk, and enjoying the big bands on Atlantic City Pier. This instilled a great love of the ocean in Tierkel for the rest of his life that he would pass on to his children. The family's network of friends that they established were from varied walks of life, giving the children a great view into many cultures. Tierkel's mother was also as a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Education
This exposure to the wide culture of the world set the foundation for Tierkel's later life. It gave him the drive and passion to learn all that he could about the world around him. Tierkel was a serious student and took advantage of the great public school system of Philadelphia and graduated with honors in June 1930 from the Horace Binney School and then in 1934 from the acclaimed Central High School (Philadelphia). An early example of his service was as chairman of the Student Patrol at Central High School.
It was not until his university experience at the University of Pennsylvania, out from under the strict nature of home, that Tierkel began to travel and broaden his life pursuits. Before graduating from Penn with his Bachelor of Arts in 1938, he spent a semester at the University of Virginia and gained his love of southern hospitality and culture—which would play an important role in Tierkel's life. Tierkel then continued on to the medical school at University of Pennsylvania and to receive his V.M.D. in 1942. Tierkel continued his education in public health at Columbia University in New York City, where he was awarded his master's degree in Public Health in 1945.