Spring 2013 - Tufts University School of Dental Medicine

advancement
giving. growth. gratitude.
Justin Altshuler, D46,
on his boat in Florida.
All Hands on Deck
To encourage young alumni to donate, Justin Altshuler, D46, issues second fundraising challenge
by Heather Stephenson
The call came at 6 a.m. fire had broken out in the boston
building where Justin Altshuler, D46, operated his bustling
dental practice. When Altshuler and his wife arrived at the
scene, they found students from the apartments upstairs huddled
in blankets provided by the Salvation Army. Snow covered the ground,
and flames leapt from the upper windows.
Once the smoke cleared, at least some of the office was salvageable. The
records, fortunately, were in fireproof containers. But the appointment book
was ashes. “Who was coming in tomorrow” Altshuler recalls wondering.
“How could we call them”
He and his wife, Bunny, who ran the office, got down to reclaiming—and
ultimately redefining—their business. They quickly reconfigured the practice
from a staff of 18 with five chairs for patients to just the two of them, a
hygienist and two chairs.
Now an 89-year-old widower who lives
in Tampa, Fla., Altshuler says the downsizing
triggered an epiphany. “We went home
the first calendar year with more net profit
with the small situation, and I didn’t have
to worry about the management of the
enterprise,” he says. “Small was better.”
That kind of business insight, optimism
and roll-up-your-sleeves effort has served
Altshuler well. Born in Dorchester, Mass.,
he completed his undergraduate courses at
what is now the University of Massachusetts
in two years because of World War II and his
Tufts dental degree in three. He married and
44 tufts dental medicine spring 2013
photo: brian tietz