"Dr. Berkowitz was born in Youngstown, Ohio. His father was a Reform Judaism rabbi, while his mother was a professor of Romance Languages at Kent State University. During his youth, he became aware of the need for plastic surgery when his father, who had been born with a cleft lip, was denied surgery as an infant due to his own parents’ inability to pay the fee of the Chicago surgeon. The manual dexterity he displayed as a child prompted Dr. Berkowitz’s father to direct him toward becoming a surgeon.
At the University of Michigan, Dr. Berkowitz graduated with honors in art history, where he developed his particular fascination with architecture. What man can do with his hands, following the laws of nature, became his mantra as he pursued a career as a plastic surgeon at the University of Michigan."
