Isadore Seeman

The Twentieth Century Through My Eyes Isadore Seeman

This is the story of a man who lived through and played a part in the tumultuous events of the twentieth century, a volatile century that endured eight wars, the development and use of the atomic bomb, vast social changes, and great technological advances. As a community and national leader in public health and social welfare, he helped shape the nature of those services in ways that affect all of us. Isadore Seeman, called Sam by his friends, grew up in apartments behind storefronts in Baltimore, the fourth of five children of Russian immigrants. The family struggled in poverty as the father went from cobbler to storekeeper to restaurant owner and most of the family delivered newspapers. As he worked his way through school and college, he dabbled in the theater, but at 25, Sam came down with tuberculosis and spent 14 months of bed rest in a TB sanitarium outside Baltimore. That episode changed the course of his life, steering him toward a career in public health and community organization.