Herman Tarnower

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Herman Tarnower (March 18, 1910 – March 10, 1980) was a cardiologist and the author (with Samm Sinclair Baker) of the bestselling diet book The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet (see Scarsdale Diet). He was murdered by Jean Harris.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1910 to Dora and Harry Tarnower. Both were Jewish immigrants. He had three sisters, and attended Syracuse University.

A Brooklyn Jew, Tarnower set himself up as a cardiologist in the Scarsdale and White Plains areas of New York. During World War II he joined the US Military Corps and was promoted to major. When the war was over he founded the Scarsdale Medical Center and was highly regarded amongst his colleagues and patients. He was a relentless social climber who held elaborate dinner parties and cultivated a circle of wealthy friends and patients.

Friends from the publishing world suggested to Tarnower that he write a book documenting the diet he recommended to his patients. The basic nutritional philosophy of cutting down on carbohydrates, eating plenty of oily fish, lean meat, fruit and vegetables and have a low intake of fats, salt and sweets was quite revolutionary at the time and when Tarnower wrote The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet it became an immediate bestseller.

The mounting tensions of the Harris/Tarnower affair came to a boiling point on 10 March, 1980, when Jean drove from the Madeira School in McLean, Virginia to Tarnower's home in Purchase, New York, with a handgun in her possession, with which she said she had planned to commit suicide after talking in person with Tarnower one last time. When she arrived at the house, however, she noticed Lynne Tryforos' lingerie in the bedroom. An argument ensued, and Herman Tarnower allegedly said to her, "Jesus, Jean, you're crazy! Get out of here!" Harris shot Tarnower four times at close range, wounding him mortally. She was arrested and booked for second-degree murder. She pled not guilty, insisting that the shooting was an accident and that the gun had gone off accidentally while he tried to wrestle it away from her. Jean Harris was one of very few people to serve less than 12 years in prison for a murder conviction. Upon her release, her plan was to live in a cabin in New Hampshire.

The acknowledgements page of the 9th printing of the paperback edition of Tarnower's The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet starts with, "We are grateful to Jean Harris for her spendid assistance in the research and writing of this book..." then, two paragraphs later, "We wish, especially, to thank Lynne Tryforos..."