Lasting Impressions | Fall 2014

34 © LASTING IMPRESSIONS Faculty Impressions The plan was simple. After 32 years, Kenneth Namerow , D.D.S., would retire from his practice in Ridgewood, New Jersey, at the turn of the millennium. He would spend his time touring the coun- try in an RV with his wife, Marcia. But first, they’d take a vacation to sunny Florida. That’s as far as Namerow got. “The schedule in an endodontics practice is so rigid. I wanted no responsibility. I wanted to spend as much time as I wanted in one place and then move on,” said Namerow, recalling those plans. But Namerow was intrigued with NSU’s College of Dental Medi- cine, which had opened in 1997 and was the first private dental college to be established in Florida, and the first to open in the United States, since 1975. Namerow wrote a note to the CDM’s founding dean, Seymour Oliet, D.D.S., which led to an offer to teach part time. “It snow- balled from there,” said Namerow, who joined NSU in 2000. He became a full professor in 2010 and now serves as division chief of surgical sciences and section chair of endodontics. Since joining NSU, Namerow has been a part of the CDM’s growth. One of his proudest contributions is a fund-raising effort that enabled the CDM to announce an endowed professor- ship in endodontics. Namerow created the campaign and guided it to the goal of $500,000 in only four years. The endowment, as a result, has been named in his honor—Kenneth N. Namerow Endowed Professor- ship in Endodontics. “It’s important to have a young faculty,” Namerow said. “But for an endodontist to choose an academic career is a major financial sacrifice. He can go into practice and earn three times the income. We had to do something.” Dentist found second career as a professor. Kenneth Namerow instructs endodontic residents Jason Foreman, left, and Jeffrey Gardyn. By Chauncey Mabe