ALEX GRASS (at left in this picture, with Dr. Ettinger on the right) founded the Rite Aid Corporation, which boasts a chain of drugstores, and served as its chairman and CEO from 1962 to 1995. A noted philanthropist and civic leader, he was chairman of the board of governors for the Jewish Agency for Israel and of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, from which he received an honorary doctorate in 2000. Prior to his death in 2009, he was chairman and CEO of Fleer/Skybox, a sports card company, and of Oak Hall, supplier of academic robes. Mr. Grass, a longtime supporter of Johns Hopkins, endowed a professorship in oncology to show his admiration for the work of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, especially Dr. David Ettinger.
Alex Grass Professorship in Oncology
School of Medicine
Established in 2003 by Alex Grass
Held by David S. Ettinger
DAVID S. ETTINGER, inaugural Alex Grass Professor in Oncology, joined the faculty of the School of Medicine in 1975. He is professor of oncology and holds joint appointments in gynecology/obstetrics, medicine, and otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. Dr. Ettinger’s research interests include lung cancer, sarcomas and new drug development. He has served on the Medical Oncology Lung Subcommittee of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group, and he is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Board of Directors. A prolific writer with his name on more than 190 papers, Dr. Ettinger also edited the book Thoracic Oncology. He is past president of the Maryland division of the American Cancer Society, and in 1997 he received that society’s highest divisional award, the St. George Medal.