Emanuel Wolinsky, professor emeritus of pathology, died Jan. 13 at age 94. As chief of MetroHealth’s infectious disease division from 1961 to 1983 and professor of medicine and pathology at Case Western Reserve University from 1956 to 1988, he devoted much of his career to combating tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. The co-author of the standard reference book Textbook of Pulmonary Diseases, Wolinsky trained young doctors for four decades. In 1979, he published a landmark article on a bacteria named for him, mycobacterium wolinskyi, that is still relevant for researchers.
Wolinsky received numerous honors for his research, teaching and publications, including the Edward Livingston Trudeau Medal and the Louis Weinstein Award, which was later renamed the Emanuel Wolinsky Award. In 2011, he was inducted into the MetroHealth Medical Hall of Honor.
After growing up in New York City, Wolinsky earned his bachelor’s and medical degrees from Cornell University. He contracted tuberculosis shortly before finishing medical school, and while he was recovering at Trudeau Sanatorium in Saranac Lake, N.Y., he began conducting research in its laboratory. During the 10 years he worked there, Wolinsky co-published more than 100 articles and helped develop a drug treatment for tuberculosis, which was credited with closing most sanatoriums. After Trudeau closed, he moved to Cleveland in 1956 to take over the bacteriology lab at what is now MetroHealth.
A memorial service will be held Sunday, Feb. 5, at 2 p.m. at Berkowitz-Kumin-Bookatz Memorial Chapel at 1985 S. Taylor Rd. in Cleveland Heights.