IN MEMORIAM
IN MEMORIAM
Dr. Bernard Silverstein (1927-2003)
First director of the UT Hearing and Speech Center
"Dr. Bernie"
After receiving his Ph.D. at Purdue University in 1953, Dr. Silverstein came to Knoxville as the founding director of the East Tennessee Hearing and Speech Center. He was known as “Dr. Bernie” to the thousands of children and adult patients he worked with and the thousands of students he trained at the University of Tennessee.
He was known throughout East Tennessee for his innovative television program, “Stop! Look! And Listen!”, which helped young children achieve speech and reading readiness. As a public service, Dr. Silverstein presented 950 five-day-a-week programs of WBIR-TV from 1956-1964. He spoke to many parent-teacher and civic groups to raise awareness of speech and hearing problems and treatments.
As a faculty member of the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, Dr. Silverstein taught the undergraduate courses in phonetics, articulation and voice disorders up until his retirement in 1996.
Dr. Silverstein served for many years as a member of the UT Faculty Senate. He was an enthusiastic and devoted fan of the football and basketball programs, and served as a representative on the UT Athletics Board. He was the author of NTC’s Dictionary of American English Pronunciation, published in 1994, the first dictionary of its kind to help non-native English speakers learn American spoken English through phonetics. He also taught many foreign students and local residents through the International House at UT. Dr. Silverstein served in many leadership capacities in the Knoxville Jewish community and as president of Temple Beth El, the Arnstein Jewish Community Center, and Chairman of the United Jewish Appeal.
Dr. Silverstein passed away in February 2003 due to complications following a stroke. He will be sorely missed, by his family, UT colleagues, UT speech pathology graduates, and all the clients and families whose lives were enriched by his work and passion for life.
