Elaine Marinoff Good and Her Family Leave a Legacy to Mount Sinai

Elaine Marinoff Good and her children never forgot the care and support she received from her surgeon, Dr. Randy Steinhagen, Chief of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery and the Program Director of the Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship Program at Mount Sinai, when she needed colon surgery years ago. After her death in 2018, her children arranged for a significant bequest to bestow a legacy for their mother Elaine at Mount Sinai.

“The beautiful thing about making a bequest is that it gives our family a chance to say thank you to Mount Sinai and to Dr. Steinhagen for the tremendous care our mother received,” says her daughter, Cynthia Good, who arranged the gift along with her brothers Glendon and Bradley. “It’s a beautiful way to leave a legacy, to help other people, and to improve medicine.”

Cynthia lauded Dr. Steinhagen, a member of the Mount Sinai faculty since 1983, for the personal attention he gave to her mother in addition to his surgical acumen.

“Here he is, the head of (colorectal) surgery—and when my mom was confused about where she was supposed to be, he walked her down the hall and through the hospital to where she needed to go,” Cynthia recalls. “She told us that story, and she never forgot his kindness.”

Elaine frequently raved about Mount Sinai’s patient advocacy programs, which help patients understand their diagnoses and move through treatment regimens.

“We believe that Mount Sinai takes care of not just the disease but the patient—the person,” says Cynthia. “Mount Sinai is very focused on making sure that patients and their families feel supported, and that was lacking in my mother’s treatment outside Mount Sinai. We felt very strongly that her wish at the end of her life was that a bequest go to Mount Sinai.”

Elaine was a professional artist who exhibited nationally and internationally. In addition to the bequest, some of Elaine’s artwork will be donated to Mount Sinai as well.

“Contributing to Mount Sinai is a wonderful way to remember our mother and to help make a difference for someone else,” says Cynthia.