In recognition of his extraordinary contribution to the University, its students and the community of Soweto, he was awarded a Gold Medal in 2008. Professor Blumsohn also held a doctorate in Semitic languages and was extremely widely read. He was definitely one of the students’ heroes and was guest speaker at the final year medical students’ ball for many years.
He was the recipient of the PV Tobias and Convocation Award for distinguished teaching in 1996. He regularly received letters and gifts from the students expressing their gratitude for his teaching, philosophy, guidance and mentoring, and for showing them the importance of patient-centered medicine. Professor Blumsohn published widely in the medical literature but he has also been invited to leading cardiological and other medical institutions in North and South America as visiting professor, researcher, or teacher. He was at the forefront of a campaign at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in 1987 in which doctors from the Department of Medicine protested at the deplorable conditions patients had to endure. He wrote a moving article for the medical students' journal, The Leech, entitled “The Pathology of Poverty” which had a major influence on the thinking of many students. He practiced what he preached: he treated all his patients with dignity and respect and was always available to them. But above all, he was a humanitarian, ever-sensitive to the predicament of the downtrodden.
He had an outstanding intellect, an encyclopedic knowledge of medicine, and an ability to inspire students. Professor Blumsohn possessed all the qualities of a great physician. After his retirement in 1997, he continued to work in the department as Honorary Professor, sharing his extensive knowledge, experience and wisdom with students, doctors and patients. He gave unswerving and loyal service to the Department of Medicine at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital for more than five decades: initially as registrar, then as physician, senior physician, principal physician and head of one of the large medical units. Professor Blumsohn attended Krugersdorp High School, and completed his medical degree at Wits. They settled in Roodepoort and had three children Maurice, Tzilla and David. Aaron ran religious services in Belfast and Nigel and later became a shochet (qualified to slaughter meat according to Jewish law). His father, Aaron Blumsohn, emigrated to South Africa in 1924 from Lithuania at the age of 18 and married Leiba Tannenbaum. He devoted his life to the practice of medicine almost exclusively in the public sector, serving the poorest of the poor in Soweto during and after apartheid. He passed away at the age of 89 on 20 October 2021.
Professor David Blumsohn (MBBCh 1954, DipMed 1959) was known as the “heart, soul, and pulse” of Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital where he worked for 50 years.