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Beth Kalish-Weiss: Dr Rangell, you grew up in Brooklyn, New York, a long time ago. Can we begin by you telling me of your early childhood days and your family life?
Leo Rangell: Okay, that's a good place to start. I must say that my early life was extremely unin-tellectual. I was born into an immigrant family, father and mother refugees from Russia and Poland respectively. I was the oldest of four, two younger brothers and then my sister, 17 years younger than me. There was no literature, no books, no intellectual excitement in my home. I do remember my father quite routinely reading the daily newspaper, The Daily Forward. It was in Yiddish. I remember having a good feeling about that; it was sort of a window to something larger. My parents mainly wanted their children to be educated. That seemed to be taken for granted. That's what we were to do, go to school. My father worked hard to make a sufficient (skimpy) living, and my mother kept a clean and orderly house. She made simple, tasty food; I sometimes think of it nostalgically as I enjoy the more exotic and varied fare I eat today.
B.K.-W.: Could you say something about your siblings, how you interacted with them, and what their personalities were like, compared with yours?
L.R.: I guess the most important sibling relationship I had was with my two-years younger brother. He was very close, always near me, and there is much to be said about that. After him was my next brother, five years later, and when I was 17, my mother, who by that time had had three sons and had long wished for a daughter, finally had her little girl, when I was already a sophomore in college. She was adored by all. All of them went through school well; they all were intelligent, wonderful, decent human beings, with varying degrees of satisfaction, as well as frustrations and disappointments, in their (in all our) lives. The material level was not much above minimal, no luxuries or great ease. My two-years younger brother was closest to me, nat