Eugene L. Gottlieb, 1919-2018

Abstract

Eugene Louis Gottlieb, founding editor of the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics, died peacefully at his home in Sedona, Arizona, on October 11, at age 99, after a brief illness. Dr Gottlieb, known as Gene, was born on August 7, 1919, in New York City. His parents were New York City schoolteachers, and he was educated in the city's public schools. He graduated from George Washington High School at age 15, and he enrolled initially in Teachers College because he was too young to enter Columbia College. He earned his bachelor degree in science from Columbia in 1939. While in college, Dr Gottlieb worked as a sports stringer for the New York Herald Tribune and as sports editor of the Columbia Daily Spectator. He intended to become a sports writer but changed his mind when he saw the potential advantages of a profession. He entered Columbia Dental School and received his DDS in 1943. When World War II broke out, he finished his degree before joining the Army as a dentist. During his military training, he married Jacqueline Levy. He was assigned as a dentist on troop ships crossing the Atlantic, and he left the service as a captain in 1946. Dr Gottlieb opened a private dental practice in New York, but he soon applied to Columbia's orthodontic program under the GI Bill. After commuting to school during the day and practicing dentistry at night for 2 years, he earned his orthodontics certificate in 1949. He was practicing orthodontics in Rockville Center, New York, in 1965, when he and 2 colleagues realized the need for a publication devoted to everyday orthodontic treatment. They began soliciting subscribers and advertisers, building up enough capital to launch the monthly Journal of Practical Orthodontics in September 1967. A success from its first issue, the publication was renamed the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics in 1970 and celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special issue in September 2017. It is still the world's only major peer-reviewed, subscription-based, privately owned publication for practicing orthodontists, with readers all over the world. As the journal grew, Dr Gottlieb bought out his partners and sold his orthodontics practice. In 1974, he moved his home and office to Boulder, Colorado, where the JCO office remained until relocating to Greenwood Village, Colorado, in 2016. The company is now owned and operated by the family's second and third generations, but Dr Gottlieb took the position of senior editor in 1988 and stayed active as a reviewer of article submissions until just days before his death. “Gene was certainly one of my greatest role models throughout my career,” said Dr Robert Keim, current editor of JCO. “He profoundly influenced the practice of orthodontics worldwide for more than half a century. We have lost a giant.” Dr Gottlieb served as president of the Tenth District Dental Society in New York and as editor of the society's Bulletin. He was a delegate to the American Dental Association from 1960 to 1967. He was a diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics and a fellow of the International College of Dentists. Dr Gottlieb authored more than 200 journal articles, spoke at several annual meetings of the American Association of Orthodontists, and lectured extensively in the United States and abroad, with a particular focus on the business side of practice. His monthly JCO Editor's Corner became an institution in the specialty. In 1981, he started the only comprehensive survey of US orthodontic economics, the biennial JCO Orthodontic Practice Study. The Eugene L. Gottlieb Student of the Year Award, presented by JCO and American Orthodontics, was instituted in 2016 to recognize his commitment to education; to date, the program has assisted 3 outstanding students from US orthodontic departments in starting their careers. A connoisseur and collector of fine and folk art, Dr Gottlieb was a partner in E.J. Morrison Antiques in New York from 1957 to 1974. He and Jackie moved to Sedona in 1987. He helped to launch the Sedona Arts Festival and Sedona Cultural Park, serving as the organizations' treasurer from 1991 to 1997. He and Jackie loved to travel, visiting locales as far away as Russia, Japan, and Bhutan. He was an avid skier and tennis player into his 80s. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his son, John; his daughter, Cindy Vogels, and her husband David; a grandson, Philip Vogels, and a great-granddaughter, Isabelle Vogels, all residing in the Denver area.