Weinstein was born in
Madison, Wisconsin as the youngest of four sons of Russian immigrants. He earned an undergraduate degree from the
University of Wisconsin–Madison. He also earned his medical degree there and conducted research at
Harvard University and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was hired by
Columbia University as an assistant professor of medicine in 1961 and appointed as a professor in 1973. From 1978 to 1990, he was director of the division of environmental sciences at
Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. Starting in the 1970s, Weinstein was among the first groups of researchers to make the connection between chemical compounds that are commonly found in the environment and their cancer-causing potential by identifying carcinogens that would be able to find molecular targets in the body. Weinstein investigated the cancer risks caused by benzopyrene|benzo[a]pyrene, which is found in automobile exhaust, barbecued food and tobacco smoke. He also studied
nitrosamines, a cancer-causing compound found in
cured and
smoked meats and in
pickled foods, generated when
nitrites in the food react with strong acids or high temperatures. Weinstein died at age 78 on November 3, 2008, in
Manhattan of
kidney disease, and was buried at
Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin. He is survived by his spouse, the former Joan Anker, a son, the
contemporary artist Matthew Weinstein, and two daughters, Claudia, of Manhattan, and Tamara, of
Atlanta, Georgia. ==References==