David Kessler Hirsh and Connie Kessler Hirsh (it was his idea to take Connie’s maiden name as his middle name), both Class of 1984, met shortly after they started at Einstein in 1980. Connie found out they both went to the University of Pennsylvania for their undergraduate studies but didn't know each other there. In Anatomy lab, their cadavers were next to each other; David’s group had budding surgeons and Connie’s group had a cadaver that was not well preserved. So, the groups studied together off of David’s group’s cadaver. David and Connie danced together once at a party in November, but didn’t start dating until the following May.
David had bought tickets to a Woody Allen play. Connie was the third girl he asked; and she said yes, only because going to Broadway shows was her favorite activity. They found out quickly that they had similar family backgrounds: each of their fathers were physicians and their mothers’ teachers. David had two sisters and Connie two brothers; both attended Jewish Day Schools and grew up in New Jersey. They had several dates through May and June but were definitely a couple by the end of June when they went home for the summer. They were engaged six months later. When they announced their engagement when class resumed in January, their classmates were shocked. Connie always sat with another male classmate in class, and David never attended classes, preferring to read the notes and books on his own. Almost no one knew they were even dating. They married the following summer while still in school.
They each did internships at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. Connie completed a Psychiatry residency at LIJ and David completed a Neurology residency at Stony Brook. They moved to Michigan, where David did fellowships in Neuro-ophthalmology at the University of Michigan and Henry Ford Hospital, while Connie worked as a psychiatrist at Henry Ford Hospital in varying roles. David completed his second residency in Ophthalmology at Henry Ford. After six years of living in the Detroit area, they moved to Muncie, Indiana with their three children, where David worked in a private practice and Connie worked at a community mental health center and later a private practice. They left Indiana after ten years and moved to Columbus, Ohio 20 years ago, primarily for better schools for their autistic son. David worked for close to 20 years at Ohio State University, where he especially loved teaching residents and medical students, and Connie worked in private practice. Unfortunately, David passed away suddenly the day before their 41st anniversary on July 31, 2023. Connie retired from practice last April, after both her mother and her mother-in-law moved to Columbus from New Jersey.
