The Doctor and the Dale

Scarsdale was in the spotlight again this week when Jean Harris, the jilted mistress and murderer of Herman Tarnower passed away at age 89. Reviewing newspaper clippings and magazines from the time, it's evident that little has changed in Scarsdale in the 33 years since Harris' yearlong trial for murder was the talk of the town.

Harris made Scarsdale famous when she shot Dr. Herman Tarnower in 1980 after he spurned her for a young receptionist in his office at the Scarsdale Medical Center. At the time of his death Harris had been Tarnower's mistress for 14 years. When she murdered him at his home in Purchase the doctor was 69, Harris, 56, and Lynne Tryforos, the third leg of the love triangle, was a 37 year-old divorcee who worked as a receptionist at the Scarsdale Medical Group. Nicknamed Hi Tarnower, the doctor never married and was a reputed womanizer whose sexual exploits were the subject of much speculation.

Though many associate Tarnower with Scarsdale, his relationship with the 'dale was more professional than personal. At the time of his death, Tarnower lived on a 6.8 acre estate in Purchase, was a member of Century Country Club in Purchase and on the staff of three Westchester hospitals. He was also an avid hunter and a "regular visitor" to a private hunting club in Dutchess Valley. Accompanied by shooting companions Arthur Schulte and Bob Jacobs, he was involved in several accidents. During one of these outings, Tarnower "winged Schulte in the chest," and on another Tarnower shot and killed Schulte's dog, a prized Weinmarner. In yet another mishap, Tarnower shot himself in the leg while climbing a fence with a loaded gun.

However it was the cache of Scarsdale that put Tarnower in the national spotlight. After the Second World War, Tarnower, who was a trained cardiologist, left military duty and came to Scarsdale to form a small group practice in the Village. By 1959 Tarnower had amassed the funds to build the Scarsdale Medical Group at 259 Heathcote Road. He had acquired the property at a competitive price years before, possibly because it was "low-lying" and possibly prone to the flooding we now see today. With the vision of forming a "mini Mayo Clinic," he and his partner Dr. John Cannon enlisted a gastroenterologist, an allergist and an endocrinologist to join them in a group medical practice. However, the Scarsdale Zoning Board objected to the construction of a professional building in a residential area and battled the plans for years. Tarnower insisted the fight was due to anti-Semitism and refused to back down. He ultimately won and the Scarsdale Medical Center still stands today.

Tarnower also used "Scarsdale" to further his means when he named his famed diet book, The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet." Published in 1979, just two years before his death, the book was one of the first to recommend a low-carb diet. Though Tarnower was a cardiologist, rather than a nutritionist, he formulated The Scarsdale Diet that involved cutting down on carbs and eating oily fish, lean meat, fruits and vegetables, and limiting intake of fats, salts, and sweets. Tarnower had been distributing the regime on a mimeographed sheet for years before he and collaborator Samm Sinclair Baker expanded it to a book that sold 75,000 copies in hardback and over 2 million paperbacks and made Tarnower rich.

During her trial, which lasted a year, Harris stayed in Scarsdale, and the town made national news. In an article from a North Carolina newspaper in December 1980, it was evident that the murder was the talk of the town.

"As might be expected, the Tarnower case has attracted a great deal of talk, including gossip suggesting that Dr. Tarnower was a woman chaser. But while nearly everyone in the village either knew the doctor personally or knew someone who was a patient of his, the picture of him that emerges varies dramatically. Some, especially fellow physicians, use such words as "cold," "arrogant" and "reclusive" in characterizing him, but just as many remember him as a likable man."

The article goes on to discuss a debate about the non-partisan system that has "only recently been challenged as restrictive." With an election scheduled for March 17, 1981, " many residents have voiced reservations about the present system."

Looking back at the archives, it's interesting to note that the Harris-Tarnower case brings to light many of the same issues that make news in Scarsdale today. Diet, fitness, social climbing, guns, religion, intrigue, celebrity, zoning and the non-partisan system -- how far we have not come in 32 years.

This information was taken from "Very Much a Lady, the Untold Story of Jean Harris and Dr. Herman Tarnower" by Shana Alexander, published by Simon and Schuster in 1983 and "The Headmistress and the Diet Doctor" by Anthony Haden Guest, New York Magazine, March 31, 1980.