Dr. Robert Krain was among nine boys, all second-generation American Jews, who spent their formative years growing up within 200 yards of each other in the Parkchester section of the Bronx. They attended P.S. 106 and bonded over their shared love of sports, among other things. They played touch football, softball and eventually formed a basketball team, shooting hoops against the Irish and Italians in their neighborhood and representing their synagogue, Temple Emanuel.
They called themselves the Vikings. Since four of them were named Robert, each had a nickname. Dr. Krain’s was “Lefty” because “he was the best scorer, and probably the best athlete, on the basketball team, and he is left-handed,” another Viking, Dr. Robert M. Lewis, said.
Dr. Krain knows the importance of a good education. He knows that it is the foundation for a successful—and often interesting—life, and equally important, he knows that school is the place where you make lifelong friends, just as he did growing up in the Bronx in the 1940s and ’50s.After finishing high school, the Vikings went their separate ways—but all of them were encouraged by their parents (few of whom had college degrees) to get the best possible education and to prosper, and they did exactly that. Four became physicians, two dentists, two successful businessmen and one a state’s deputy commissioner of education.
Dr. Krain pursued three degrees (a B.A., master’s and M.D.) in three different states. After completing his medical degree, in 1962, he returned to New York—this time to Brooklyn—where he did an internship and three years of his residency in internal medicine. In May of 1966 he started a fellowship, but that August got a letter drafting him into the Air Force, and was shipped out to Vietnam, where he served from 1966 to 1967. Dr. Krain spent the second year of his two-year army commitment at what was then known as March Air Force Base in Riverside County, California, where he ended up settling down.
The Vikings, including Dr. Krain (front row, left) and Dr. Lewis (back row, third from left), at a 2008 reunion in Nashville.
“In April 1968, I was at the right spot at the right time to take care of General Eisenhower,” Dr. Krain recalls, “and I had the responsibility of taking care of him for 10 days.” He ended up accompanying Eisenhower, who had suffered a series of heart attacks over the years, to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, flying there on a plane that had recently transported President Lyndon Johnson.
Some 10 years later, Dr. Krain married Ruth, a Michigan native who had relocated to Riverside, and while the couple were married for 40 years, they never had children of their own. “I missed that part of life,” he said, adding, “I always knew I would like to have given something to a cause that had to do with children.”
Now 81, Dr. Krain, a retired internist, decided to help children by bequeathing a portion of his estate to AMIT. Out of all the child-centered organizations, how did Dr. Krain choose AMIT? Well, it all goes back to his childhood friends, the Vikings.
After many years of not seeing one another, the Vikings reunited in 1991—when they were all in their 50s—and began holding biannual reunions across the United States. Dr. Krain still resides in Riverside, while his friends live all around the country—in Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Kansas, Tennessee and New Hampshire. When they meet, they naturally reminisce about their childhood in the Bronx, about their parents and about their life stories and trajectories.
When Dr. Krain began thinking about philanthropy and researching different charities, he turned to one of his old Viking pals, Dr. Lewis. “I asked him about any Israeli avenues” that could benefit from such generosity. Dr. Lewis said he suggested two or three charities, and strongly recommended AMIT, a cause that is dear to his family’s heart, as his daughter Debbie (Lewis) Isaac has long been involved with the organization and served as a past president.
After learning more about AMIT and its mission of providing cutting-edge education and instilling Jewish values in Israeli children, Dr. Krain said, “It just hit me that that was exactly what I wanted.”
Ruth Krain regrettably passed away in February 2017. However, Dr. Krain said, “If she’s up there somewhere, she knows that she’s got a lot of kids now. I know if she were alive today, she’d think that was wonderful.” —AR
Thanks to Ginny Volk for providing additional information for this article.
