Editorial
Osher Richard H. Daffner, MD, FACR
P
hysicians, like all healthcare professionals are required to take continuing education courses to stay relevant with the stateof-the-art practices in their respective specialties as well as to maintain licensure. But what happens after they retire and are no longer practicing? Does the love of learning stop? To an extent, that depends on the individual. I have always had a love of learning. I often told my students and residents that the day I stop learning is the day I’m put in the ground for eternity. Pittsburgh is blessed with many colleges and universities that offer a
variety of learning opportunities to its large senior population. Two of the major institutions, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) are affiliated with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes (Osher, OLLI). Each of these programs provide an array of noncredit courses and activities specifically developed for adults aged 50 and older who are interested in learning simply for the joy of learning. I briefly mentioned these programs in a previous Editorial1. The programs are named for Bernard Osher, a native of Maine, who became a successful banker and
entrepreneur. Mr. Osher, who earned his bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College, managed the family hardware and plumbing supply business before moving to work for Oppenheimer & Co. in New York. From there, he moved to San Francisco, where he was a founder of Golden West Financial and a founding director of one of its subsidiaries, World Savings, which became the second largest savings institution in the United States. In 1970, he bought Butterfield & Butterfield, a San Francisco auction house, and sold it to eBay in 1990. World Savings merged with the Wachovia Corporation
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