Menands, NY – Dr Mahendra Ganjhu passed away peacefully on November 18, 2022, at his home in Menands, New York. Dr. Ganjhu was a pillar of his communities in the Capital Region and beyond. He served his patients through his work in medicine for nearly 60 years, the South Asian community through his co-founding of community institutions; and his wide network of friends and family through kindness and love. His life has been a testament to family, community, service, and generosity. He will be remembered for the gentleness of his smile, his capacity for listening, and the dedication he brought to all he did throughout his life. 

Dr. Ganjhu was predeceased by this parents, Pashupati and Khirodamani Devi Ganjhu.

He was born in Anigara, India, on October 24, 1933. Before coming to the U.S., he practiced as a young physician in small rural villages in India. The work was demanding, but he expressed joy and reward in his service. To expand his medical knowledge, he immigrated to the United States in 1965 for advanced training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology. His training took him and his young family first to Binghamton, NY, then to Brooklyn, NY, Livingston, NJ, and Salem, MA.

He moved his family to Troy, NY, in 1972, to start a practice in Cardiology. For several years, he also served as the Medical Director at Van Rensselaer Manor, a position he held with great pride and devotion.  

Through his work and his loyal friendships, he made a difference to the people he cared for, and deeply touched a vast number of lives. Dr. Ganjhu was a beloved leader in the Indian community. He served as a past president of TRICIA and was one of the founding members of the Albany Hindu Temple. He and his wife, the late Dharamshila Ganjhu, opened their home and lives to family and friends, helping new families integrate into the community, and inviting in a constant stream of visitors who laughed and talked together most days of the year.

Every summer, he loved to garden, and he shared the fruits of his labor with neighbors. His other passions included reading, travel, and fast cars. He lived life to the fullest, with optimism and on his own terms. 

Dr. Ganjhu lost his beloved wife of 59 years, Dharmashila Ganjhu, in 2016, and was a loving father to his daughter, Dr. Lisa Ganjhu.

He is survived by a brother, Anand (Basanti) Ganjhu and a sister, Usha (Bandu) Mahto; his brothers-in-law, Rajkumar (Pratibha) Prasad, Dr. Pashupati (Usha) Kumar, Dr. Arbind (Roma) Kumar, Mahendra (Shoba) Prasad and Siddaharth (Kiran) Kumar and sister-in-laws, Parvati Ganjhu and Kamlini Ganjhu and many adoring nieces and nephews.  He was predeceased by two brothers, Lal Mohan Ganjhu and Madan Ganjhu, and his sister, Meera (Ghura Ram) Ganjhu. 

Services will be on Monday, November 21, 2022 at the Gardner Earl Memorial Chapel Oakwood Cemetery, Troy with prayer services at 2PM.

Memorial Services and a Celebration of Life will be arranged at a future date.

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Delmar, NY – Dr. Neil Lempert, a pillar of the surgical community in the Capitol District of New York, passed away on December 6, 2022. Born on November 25, 1933, in Astoria, NY, Dr Lempert graduated from the famed Stuyvesant High School in 1950, and immediately matriculated at Hamilton College, where he won the Golding and Cobb essay prizes. He entered Albany Medical College in 1954. He did his surgical training under the direction of Dr. Charles Eckert. His surgical training included a year of transplantation research (1960-1961), and a year as a Research Fellow in Transplant Surgery at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, NY (1963-1964), under the tutelage of Dr. David Blumenstock. His surgical research focused on the emerging field of organ transplantation. Immediately after completing his surgical training, he was conscripted into the United States Army. Serving as a Captain, he spent six months of research in the burn ward at Brook Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Upon eight days’ notice, he was transferred to the 249th Hospital in Tokyo, Japan, where he served out the remainder of his army career caring for Vietnam casualties. He returned to Albany Medical College in 1967, where he rose to Professor of Surgery in 1978.

Dr. Lempert founded the Section of Transplant Surgery at the Albany Medical Center in 1969 and served as its Director until 1992. In addition to his clinical and administrative leadership positions, Dr. Lempert also had an active basic science research program and is the author or co-author of 91 peer reviewed publications, the bulk of which deal with various aspects of immunology and organ transplantation. Active in many surgical societies, he was particularly proud of his membership in the American Surgical Association.

Dr. Lempert was an excellent role model and beloved teacher for generations of medical students and surgical residents. He mentored medical student summer research fellows in his laboratory over a 28-year period. Many of these students won awards for the quality of their research. He took a personal interest in his students and residents and followed their careers long after they left his tutelage.

He was a leading figure in the Alpha Omega Medical Honor Society, serving as Secretary of the Albany Chapter (1985-1989) and Counselor (1989-2019). In this role, he mentored scores of outstanding students. The loyalty and affection of his students and residents were expressed in the establishment of the Neil Lempert Professorship in Surgery in 2005 and in 2019 the establishment of the Judith and Neil Lempert, MD ’58 Endowed Scholarship Fund.

An early pioneer in transplantation, Dr. Lempert remained engaged and intellectually curious to the end of his life. His life was characterized by love and loyalty for his family, friends, his patients, his students, and the Albany Medical College. He was predeceased by his son, David. He is survived by his beloved wife of 60 years, Judy, and their children, Elizabeth Markowitz, Heidi Zaner and her husband Dovid, Nina Lempert and her husband Ross Ginsberg, and Katie Sklar and her husband Mitchel, as well as 9 grandchildren, Alex, Chaim, Yeshaya, Anna, Caroline, Yosef, Madeline,

Corrine and Didi. His family will remember him best for his enthusiasm for tennis and golf, the Saratoga Race Track, and a huge catalogue of off-color jokes, which he took great zeal in relating.

Services at the Levine Memorial Chapel 649 Washington Avenue in Albany on Sunday , December 11, 2022 at 11:00 am. The period of mourning will be observed at  the Lempert residence, 19 Phesant Lane in Delmar, New York on  Sunday from 2-4[, pm

In lieu of flowers, Dr Lempert’s family would appreciate donations to the Dr Neil Lempert Endowed Chair in Surgery at Albany Med, or to the Judith and Neil Lempert MD ’58 Endowed Scholarship Fund. Donations can be sent c/o Albany Med Foundation, 43 New Scotland Ave, MC-119, Albany, NY 12208

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