JERUSALEM (JPS) -- Former Health Ministry director-general Prof. Baruch Padeh -- a brilliant geneticist, a founder of Sheba Hosp
His 83-year-old wife, Tehiya, who swallowed an overdose of prescription drugs with him, was rushed to Sheba Hospital in critical
Victor Shemtov, a former health minister who had appointed Padeh his director-general in 1970, was shocked by the news.
Padeh was "a completely honest man, a brilliant man of science. No others like him remain. It's a great loss to Israeli medicine," said Shemtov. "If he ended his life, it was out of strength, not weakness."
In 1999, the Volunteers' Shield gave Padeh a special award for a lifetime of service for contributing to the nation's health.