Two Thirds Done

Thoughts and experiences of an eighty one year old Wild Duck.

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Yossi Elaz 1947-2024

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avram miller

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Yossi Elaz (left and Israel Brill (right). Rehovot Israel aroundd 1978.

Me at that time

Sadly, I am writing once more about a dear friend, Yossi Elza) who passed away a few days ago. The number of such occasions is accelerating,  I am afraid.

I moved to Israel for the first time in 1974, fifty years ago.  There, I  founded a division of a US Medical Equipment Company, Mennen Medical, located in its bye-bye Israeli subsidiary, MG Electronics.  I worked there for five years until my family and I left for the USA.  My division was called the Medical Computer Systems Division (MCSD).  

Soon after I started at MCSD, I met a young engineer, Yossi Elaz,  who was already working at MG Electronics.  He had an engaging smile, warm personality, curiosity, and incredible talent.  Yossi joined my group and was responsible for all the hardware development.

Our products were computer-based systems for monitoring or diagnosing cardiovascular disease. We were primarily focused on intensive care. They were a combination of hardware and software. Yossi ended up being responsible for the hardware development.

One such product was SOLO (pictured below with Yossi, the hardware engineer, and Israel Brill, the software engineer). SOLO was a computer-based single-patient monitoring system (I believe it was the first of its kind).  It stood for Single OnLine Observer (I think).  Interestingly, it used the LSI-11 single-board computer from Digital Equipment Corp and a memory board from Intel.  I would end up working for Digital Equipment Corp and then later Intel.  

After I left Israel, Yossi and I communicated from time to time. I just reread our email exchanges over the years. He stayed working in the medical field and moved to the USA, working for Mennen Medical and later Philips and then Boston MedTech Advisors in 2008. dated each other, wrote about our families, and shared views on the situation in Israel. The last email I received from him was in 2015, almost ten years ago. It is very touching to read what sent me with this email.

One of the greatest gifts in my life is working with young people (I was young too for a while) and helping them develop, but importantly, learning from them. I have been in touch with many over the span of my long career, and for that, I am grateful.  

My Yossi’s memory remains a blessing for his three daughters and all the other who who love him. I am one. 

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Comments

9 responses to “Yossi Elaz 1947-2024”

  1. HARRY COMERCHERO Avatar
    HARRY COMERCHERO

    Avram …. Thank you for honoring the memory and life of our dear friend and colleague Yossi Elaz with this posting on your Blog.  As one of your early hires at Mennen Medical in Rehovot, Israel in 1974, I had the opportunity to work with Yossi as our entire team focused on developing so many exciting break-through  innovations in the field of computer-based monitoring and diagnostic systems for Cardiology and Intensive Care.  Yossi’s contribution to this field was significant … initially with Mennen Medical and later with Siemens Medical.  His fingerprint can be found in every Patient Monitor used in ICUs across the world today.   Happily, I remained close friends with Yossi over the past 50 years, as we found ourselves commonly residing in cities such as Buffalo, Phoenix, and most recently Boston over the past decades.  And one thing we always reminisced about when we would meet for our “Kosher Lunches” at a local Chinese Restaurant was the influence that YOU had on both of our young lives as a mentor, leader, and entrepreneur at Mennen Medical.  It shaped who we were and gave us that initial thrill of creating a company and being innovators …. which has guided us both throughout our entire 4+ decades of our careers in the Healthcare IT/Medical Equipment industry.  We both were grateful for the opportunity.  And so on behalf of Yossi and myself …. Thank You!  May Yossi’s Memory be a blessing to all.

    Harry Comerchero

    Reply
    1. avram miller Avatar
      avram miller

      Here, thank you very much for your comments. They mean a lot to me. We were also lucky to get to know each other. We had a great team. Sadly, we’re beginning to lose some of our members., Harold, now Yossi.

      Reply
  2. BaseballBoomer Avatar
    BaseballBoomer

    Hi, Avram! I’m sorry for your loss. It’s hard seeing our friends and relatives pass. The story was sweet. I’d like to think I had a few good bosses over the years! Stay safe, Mary Cole

    Reply
  3. Liora Maron Avatar
    Liora Maron

    These were non forgetful times. All of us so young, enthusiastic and energetic. Almost 50 years have past, and we are beginning to disperse. Life is so sad.Liora

    Reply
    1. avram miller Avatar
      avram miller

      It is sad but we have to be thankful for all the wonderful times we experienced.

      Reply
  4. Linda Cohn Avatar
    Linda Cohn

    Sorry to hear about the loss of your old friend. It is happening more frequently for us at this stage of life, a hard challenge emotionally.

    Linda

    Reply
  5. pete6040 Avatar
    pete6040

    Yossi was a dear friend of mine. I worked with him at Mennen Medical. He was a brilliant designer. We used to enjoy chicken wing lunches. I remained a friend even after we went out separate ways. We visited whenever he came to Buffalo

    He will be missed!

    Peter Solender

    Reply
  6. hgrinspan Avatar
    hgrinspan

    Dear Avram,

    I will forever be grateful to Yossi ע״ה and you and everyone with whom I interacted at MG. It was a powerful influence on my life going forward to the extent that although in my 70’s, two days ago I brought up MG in conversation with my son, now in his 50’s, whom I would bring to work with me at MG when childcare was unavailable.

    Best regards,

    Hedy Grinspan

    Reply
    1. avram miller Avatar
      avram miller

      Thanks for your comment. It was a special time.

      Reply

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