The story began in 1974 when I drove down from Philadelphia with my parents to see Tulane for the first time. From the first moment I stepped foot on the uptown campus, I knew it was the right place for me. Over the following years, I graduated from the School of Arts and Sciences in 1978 as a biology major and then continued my Tulane experience at Tulane Medical School, graduating in 1982.

I loved everything about my years at Tulane, but the most important part of my time there was when I met my future wife, Gail Hahn, as a sophomore in 1976. Gail graduated from Newcomb in 1980, also as a biology major, and we were married that summer. I was not the only member of my family to find both a home and love at Tulane. My brother, Michael Gold, also was an undergraduate at Tulane, and we overlapped for one of his four years there. Michael also met his future wife, Cindee Schreiber (now Cindee Gold), at Tulane. Upon graduating in 1981, Michael and Cindee moved to Chicago, where Michael attended medical school, and then ultimately to Nashville where Michael practices dermatology.

As for me, my love for New Orleans drove me to stay in the city for both my internship in Internal Medicine at Ochsner and then my Ophthalmology residency at LSU. After my residency, and twelve amazing years in New Orleans, it was time for the next stage in my and Gail’s lives. We headed to Atlanta for the next stage in my medical training, a fellowship in pediatric ophthalmology. Our next move was to Orlando, where we have lived for the last 32+ years.

Given how close we felt to Tulane and New Orleans, you can imagine how elated Gail and I were when our daughter Lisa decided to attend Tulane in 2004. She graduated from the A. B. Freeman School of Business in 2008 as a finance major and received her Masters in Accounting as well in 2009. Just like Gail, Michael, Cindee, and me, Lisa too met her future spouse as a Tulane undergrad. She and Jason Dresner (also a finance major) were married at Disney World in 2012. After graduation, they moved to San Francisco where Jason worked as an investment banker and private equity investor while Lisa worked as a Certified Public Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. They moved to Philadelphia (my home town!) in 2014 when Jason began a full-time MBA program at UPenn’s Wharton School. After graduation, Lisa and Jason stayed in Philadelphia, where they currently reside. Jason helps to run a Comcast-backed startup called MachineQ, and Lisa continued the family’s relationship with Wharton as part of the school’s internal financial strategy and planning team. In October 2018 Lisa and Jason were blessed to welcome Scott Elliot, their first child and our first grandchild, to the world. We all cannot get enough of Scott, and he gives us a great excuse to make many trips to Philadelphia!

Just as we were with Lisa, Gail and I were again ecstatic when our son, Peter, also decided to attend Tulane. Peter graduated Phi Beta Kappa (third in his class!) in 2012 with a major in sociology and a minor in Jewish Studies. Peter further followed in my footsteps by continuing his Tulane experience as a medical student. This is where Peter’s story takes an unusual turn, and sharply deviates from mine. On November 20, 2015, Peter was driving early in the morning and saw a man dragging a girl down a New Orleans side street. When Peter intervened, saving this girl from her assailant, the enraged man shot Peter in the stomach. Tulane University then took an even more important role in our family’s story – it saved Peter’s life. The brilliant doctors at University Medical Center brought Peter back from the brink, and upon his recovery, Peter graduated with his medical school class six months later. After reflecting on this incident, Peter and eight of his closest Tulane friends started Strong City (mystrongcity.org), a nonprofit organization that helps empower at-risk youth to find the best possible life path. In praise of Peter’s inspirational story, Tulane President Michael Fitts awarded Peter with Tulane’s highest honor, the President’s Medal, in May 2017. Peter currently lives in New York and is in the third year of his medical residency as he trains to become an orthopedic surgeon.

Our Tulane tradition continues with our nephew, Stephen Hahn. As I write this, Stephen is entering his senior year as a biomedical engineering major. He is also a member of Tulane’s division one sailing team. We all look forward to attending Stephen’s graduation in the Superdome next May.

During Lisa and Peter’s years at Tulane, Gail and I stayed very close to the university, ultimately becoming chairs of the Parents Council. In honor of our children’s undergraduate experience and in support of Tulane’s public service initiatives, we established the “Gold Family Endowed Fund for Public Service.” This fund supports public service initiatives and student engagement, two areas that are very important to our family.

Tulane is and will always be an important part of the Gold family’s lives. New Orleans is our second home and each time we return we are reminded how lucky we all are to be part of such a special place and such a special family.

–Robert Stuart Gold, M.D., Arts and Sciences, 1978; Medicine 1982

 

Gail Hahn Gold, Newcomb College, 1980

Michael Howard Gold, M.D., Arts and Sciences, 1981

Cindee Schreiber Gold, Newcomb College, 1981

Lisa Gold Dresner, A. B. Freeman School of Business; 2008, Masters in Accounting, 2009

Jason Craig Dresner, A. B. Freeman School of Business; 2008, Arts and Sciences, 2008

Peter Aaron Gold, School of Liberal Arts, 2012; Medicine 2016

Stephen Eric Hahn, School of Science and Engineering, 2020