local
Life Lessons from Richard Kind …
the Annoying Cousin on
‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’
n Oct. 13, just minutes aft er
Richard Kind strolled onto
the stage at Pennsbury High
School’s Orange Auditorium, he took a
question from the student co-presidents
of the school’s Th espian Troupe 830.

But before launching into his answer,
the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actor (he
plays Larry David’s cousin, Andy) futilely
tried to stop himself from sounding like
a 65-year-old father of three.

“If my children were here, they would
sue me, because everything is going to
sound like advice, and they are tired of
hearing advice,” Kind said to the audi-
ence of between 50 and 100 students,
parents and staff members.

Over the next hour, as Kind took ques-
tions from interested students, every-
thing sounded like advice. But unlike
the actor’s children, the Pennsbury kids
were sitting on the edges of their seats,
ready to hear every word.

Addison Blumberg, a senior and one
of the troupe co-presidents who hosted
the interview, got to greet Kind when he
got out of his car before the event.

“He’s such a genuine person,”
Blumberg said. “He was willing to laugh
with us and talk to us.”
Kind is, as he described himself, “a
working actor.” He has been in a Coen
brothers’ movie, “A Serious Man,” that
was nominated for Best Picture; he
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was nominated for a Tony Award; he
played supporting roles in two network
sitcoms, “Mad About You” and “Spin
City,” that lasted several seasons; he was
in several Pixar movies; he has played
annoying but hilarious characters in
both “Curb” and Nick Kroll’s hit Netfl ix
series “Big Mouth.”
Th e Jewish actor graduated from
Pennsbury in 1974. He was returning
to Fairless Hills to be inducted into the
school’s new hall of fame alongside for-
mer Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Troy
Vincent and others. He agreed to do a
second appearance aft er Jason Kaplan, a
theater troupe member, reached out to his
social media director on Instagram.

His appearance raised enough money
from ticket sales to help the troupe pay for
its upcoming shows and send members to
a national event for theater students. But
for the students, it was also an hour of life
lessons from a man who’s made it.

“Doing the extracurricular activities is
so important”
As a student, Kind got good grades
and prominent roles in school plays. He
ascribed both to his ability to suck up
to teachers. But it’s also similar to the
role — smart actor who plays interesting
parts — he ended up taking on in real life.

“Go and expand your life,” he said.

“I wanted to be an actor”
Growing up in Bucks County, Kind
would take the train from Trenton to
New York City to see Broadway double-
headers. But by his upperclassman years,
he was supposed to go to law school.

One Sunday aft ernoon, though, his
father’s friend was over to watch football.

Th e man told Kind to give acting a shot.

“He said, ‘Defer for a year,’” Kind
recalled. “'When you’re 40, you’ll kick
yourself that you didn’t try.'”
“You’re only being sustained by your
love of the work”
Kind spent four years in New York
and then four more with the well-known
Second City improvisational troupe in
Richard Kind interacts with the
audience on Oct. 13 at Pennsbury
High School.

Chicago. By the time he got his fi rst
television role, he was already in his 30s.

“I was very lucky,” Kind said. “But I
had sort of paid my dues already.”
“Th e people behind the table who are
hiring couldn’t care less”
Th e working actor acknowledged
during the conversation that he is not
a star. So for his entire career, he has
had to audition ... the acting version of
interviewing for a job. And when he
walks into those rooms, he knows that
the people listening want one thing:
“Seinfeld money,” as Kind put it.

Th erefore, it’s on the actor, or the
applicant, to sell himself.

“Go in there and say, ‘You need some-
body who can play this role; I can help
you; I can make this role great,’” Kind
said. “'Watch this.’”
“Go up and do what you love to do”
During the talk, Kind told a story about
an acting student who was not putting
enough spirit into his role that day in class.

Th e professor responded with a mono-
logue that seemed straight out of a play.

“Th ere may be nobody else for the rest
of your life who’s going to give you the
opportunity to act!” Kind shouted. “And
I’m saying get up there and do what God
put you on the planet to do.” JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
Photos by Jarrad Saff ren
O JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER



local
Fetal Health Care Symposium to
Spread Cooperation Forged by
Abraham Accords
I Photos courtesy of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
JON MARKS | SPECIAL TO THE EXPONENT
t’s going to be a big week for Dr. Jack
Rychik of Merion Station.

On Oct. 23, he and his wife Susan
will marry off the middle of their three
daughters, Leora. Unfortunately, there
won’t be much time for him to celebrate
the nachas.

Th at’s because two days later he’ll leave
for the United Arab Emirates capital
of Abu Dhabi, the site of the inaugural
International Middle East Fetal-Neonatal
Cardiovascular Symposium on Oct. 28-29.

“I’m a pediatric cardiologist, also a
native Israeli who came to the U.S. as
a child, and still have family there,”
said Rychik, director of the Fetal Heart
Program and associate chief of cardiology
at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“Th ere are centers around the world that
do what we do. CHOP has a global health
department. We go and off er lectures at
various meetings around the world. Th e
Abraham Accords opened my eyes to this
possibility two years ago.”
Th e Sept. 15, 2020 signing of the
Abraham Accords normalized relation-
ships between the U.S., Israel, the UAE
and Bahrain, opening the doors for dip-
lomatic channels. Not long aft erward,
Oman and Sudan joined the party.

From there, offi cials at CHOP, led by
Rychik, as well as the Schneider Medical
Center in Israel and Sheikh Khalifa
Medical City in Abu Dhabi, began laying
the groundwork for what they hope will
become a regular occurrence.

“In my 30 years, the pediatric car-
diology fi eld has advanced more into
prenatal care and developed a lot of new
techniques,” explained Rychik, the son of
Polish Holocaust survivors and a member
of Lower Merion Synagogue. “During
pregnancy, it’s an area in medicine that
crosses both pediatrics and obstetrics.”
“We can now perform an ultrasound
and detect birth defect within 13 weeks,
which is the standard for how the heart
is formed. I started thinking this might
be an opportunity for us to share our
knowledge and see if we can collaborate
Dr. Jack Rychik
with the center in Israel and welcome
centers in the Middle East where we can
develop a network.

“I was able to convince our leaders at
CHOP to do a couple of things to spread
our knowledge of how to care for these
individuals. By doing so, it’ll be a catalyst
for improving relations between Israel
and the Arab world.”
Th at’s where CHOP Vice President
of Global Strategy and Business
Development Ruth Frey comes in. She’s
hopscotched the Middle East, serving as
the symposium’s chief liaison.

“Aft er the Abraham Accords were
signed, we hosted an event at CHOP on
July 21, 2021, and invited diplomats from
Israel and the UAE virtually but had the
UAE consulate from New York there in
person,” she explained. “Th e response
was overwhelming, and we put the gas
to the pedal aft er that. It takes a year,
between planning the location, speakers
and driving the money.”
Much of that money has come from
anonymous donors, including a prominent
member of the Jewish community, she said.

For those wishing to contribute, CHOP has
set up a donor relations line at 267-426-
5332 or through giving@chop.edu.

With the preliminaries completed, the
moment of truth will soon be at hand. For
Rychik, it’s about more than spreading
the word: It’s personal.

“As a child of Holocaust survivors, the
importance of Israel and its value has
always weighed heavily in my life,” he
said. “All the more this history motivates
me specifi cally to do what small things I
can to make a diff erence.

“Even a small course correction like
this — simply bringing medical experts
from Israel and the Arab world together
in the same room to talk medicine and
discuss and learn about how to advance
fetal and pediatric health care in a small
domain of fetal cardiovascular medicine
— may have a great impact as we move
forward in time.

Th at’s why he, Frey and 15 of their col-
leagues — some of them Jewish — will
board that 13-hour fl ight to Abu Dhabi,
where they’ll interact with Arab partic-
ipants in person and virtually. Despite
opposition from Saudi Arabia and other
Arab nations, the conference will go on.

“Recorded greeting from Isaac Herzog,
president of Israel, and the UAE minister
of tolerance will open the conference,”
Rychik said. “Th ere will be virtual regis-
trants from India, China, South America
and other countries.

“Th is kind of international conference
happens all the time. Hosting it in the
Middle East is a totally diff erent thing.

Th anks to the Abraham Accords, our
hope is we can make it a sustainable thing.

“Maybe next year in Jerusalem, as we
say.” JE
Jon Marks is a freelance writer.

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