Finding a Way 37 The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare Founded by Ken Schwartz, a Mintz Levin attorney, as he battled cancer, the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare promotes compassionate care so that patients and their professional caregivers relate to one another in a way that provides hope to the patient, support to the caregiver, and sustenance to the healing process. The center relies on Mintz Levin to help negotiate and draft its contracts, protect its intellectual property, and advise its board. This past year, attorneys Samantha Kingsbury, Dianne Bourque, Rachel Irving, Steve Weiner, Tony Starr, and Peter Biagetti all helped. But since its inception, the center’s Leadership Council has been the lucky beneficiary of the generosity, energy, and wisdom of Richard Mintz. The center’s executive director, Julie Rosen, recently recalled her first encounter with Richard, and what he meant to the center and to her: “Richard became instantly lovable and invaluable. We would meet often, and our get-togethers were a mixture of personal and professional advice, history lessons, and friendship. A couple of years ago, I lost a dear long-time mentor very suddenly. Richard knew of our relationship, and was one of the first people to call me, offering his sympathy and letting me know that he would be honored to fill the gap.” TheSchwartzCenter—withgreathelpfromourfirm—remains committed to infusing the patient-caregiver relationship with the same fullness of connection that Richard brought to every friendship he made. The concentric circles that flow from Ken’s inspiration will have enormous impacts both locally and nationally, and help focus the attention of the medical community on the fact that there is more than performing surgical procedures, diagnosing diseases, and prescribing pharmaceuticals or treatments that constitutes the role of the doctor. My grandfather was a general practitioner in the North End. He spoke very little English, and his patients were almost totally Jewish; and yet he was conversant with medical knowledge and he had a touch that would practically make the patient feel better when he walked into the room and squeezed a hand or patted a shoulder. Ken, although not a doctor, has made an enormous contribution to the medical profession, and that alone will be a lasting memorial to his memory. ~  Richard Mintz September 21, 1995 from a letter to Ellen Schwartz, widow of former Mintz Levin Member Ken Schwartz, founder of the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare