Cyril Mazansky

Cyril Mazansky

Dr Cyril Mazansky obtained his medical degree at the University of the Witwatersrand. While at Medical School he branched out to obtain a degree in biological science. A couple of years after graduation, Cyril, his wife, Harriet, and their elder daughter immigrated to the USA where he completed a residency in Diagnostic Radiology at the Boston University School of Medicine and its affiliated hospitals, followed by a fellowship in Interventional Radiology. After this this he went into private practice at one of the Boston hospitals, from which he retired in early 2015. He believes he was most fortunate to practice his specialty through an era that saw the dramatic technological advances in diagnostic radiology that allowed him to contribute in the overall significant advances in medical care. It was a very exciting specialty.

Early in his career, Cyril became involved in the administrative aspects of the hospital, all the while continuing to practice clinical medicine full time. This pathway ultimately led him to become involved at the Board of Trustee level in a number of local as well as regional healthcare organizations. Beyond these healthcare-related Board positions he also held similar leadership positions in religious as well as national historical organizations (The International Churchill Society).

However, it was beyond the boundaries of his profession that he found his greatest intellectual stimulation – photography and Anglo-European and Jewish history. These have been and remain the main focus of the stimulating and rewarding aspects of his life, apart from his very happy family life:

In the mid 1980’s he turned his lifelong interest in photography into a serious hobby. To this day he is passionate about it and has taken dedicated photographic trips to many of the most beautiful and remote natural landscapes on the American continent, from Patagonia in the farthest southern reaches of the continent all the way north to the Canadian Arctic, as well as the many iconic and beautiful national parks of the USA. Many of his international vacations have also involved photography and as a longtime member of international photographic societies, he participates in many international photographic exhibitions.

His two major areas of historical pursuit are in Anglo-European and Jewish history. In the former his interests include, among others, the political aspects of military history, which resulted in him acquiring two large collections, one of historical British swords and a specialized thematic card collection. He donated the former to Brown University which has the largest military and military history collection in the USA. His scholarly interests in Jewish history include the religious, archeological, cultural and anti-semitic aspects over the last 2,000 plus years. An outcome of these two major areas of historical study has been the publication of several books on specific aspects of these subjects.