At 88 years old and limited by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bob Kahn decided to write a book.

Dr. Kahn, a retired radiologist and longtime Greeley resident, had never written for publication but he felt he had useful commentary and opinions to share: about life — working, raising a family and the challenges and hardships that inevitably come with all of these.

As a student in New York City, Kahn was told he didn't have the academic credentials to attend the high school of his choice. Late in his professional career, Kahn went through a job change before he was ready to retire. Kahn and his wife, Monica, now married for nearly 63 years, navigated a parent's greatest fear — a life-threatening and debilitating illness with one of their three daughters.

One of Kahn's other daughters is Emily Kemme, who is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to the Greeley Tribune. The Kahns also have three grandchildren, including Kemme's son, Jordan, who is a radiologist.

Kahn, now 90, fled Nazi Germany with his family in the late 1930s when he was seven and relocated as refugees in New York. Kahn's father, Herman, who fought for Germany in World War I, was taken from the family home by Nazis one night in November 1938. It was a night Nazis referred to as Kristallnacht, or night of the broken glass, for the shattered windows in streets during the violent, anti-Jewish demonstrations in Germany, Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

GREELEY, CO - DECEMBER 14:Retired radiologist Bob Kahn stands for a portrait after speaking about his new memoir, "Roentgen and Me," in his home in Greeley Dec. 14, 2021. Kahn, who recently turned 90, began writing the book at age 88 to document his life's many stories, as well as a reflection on the parallels he sees between Nazi Germany, where he grew up, and today's polarized political climate. (Alex McIntyre/Staff Photographer)

Herman Kahn was sent to Buchenwald, a concentration camp in east-central Germany. Herman was released from the camp only after it was proven he was a decorated veteran. Herman Kahn eventually joined his family in Holland before the family emigrated to the U.S.

Yet, Kahn's Jewish heritage and any 'woe-is-me' tale is far from the theme of the book, "Roentgen and Me." The book was published in October and its title is a tribute to German engineer and physicist Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen, who discovered X-rays.

Kahn, like Roentgen, needed time to find his place in the medical world. Kahn tried different specialities before settling on radiology during his residency in the early 1960s. For more than 35 years, Kahn worked for Greeley X-Ray Group, which eventually grew to nine physicians and provided services for North Colorado Medical Center. Later he joined Cheyenne Radiology Group in Wyoming with outreach in eastern Colorado.

Kahn said he's had "very few direct" anti-Semitic experience and he didn't write the book on that premise.

"The thing that made me want to write the book is that so many people go through things regularly and we have to fight and make our lives as good as possible," Kahn said last week. "We have failures but we get over them. It applies to everybody."

One of Kahn's early interests in medicine came from an internal medicine physician who treated Kahn when he was a boy in New York. Dr. Walter Lomnitz saw Kahn on a follow-up basis as Kahn was recovering from rheumatic fever. The illness left him in bed for six months when he was about 12.

Lomnitz was a bright light.

"He became my burning desire, to become like him and also become a student of Internal Medicine," Kahn wrote.

Kahn graduated from Bronx High School of Science, the school to which a junior high principal told Kahn he would not be admitted. Kahn went to college in Wisconsin and medical school in Utah.

Kahn met Monica through a cousin during his residency, or post-medical school training at the University of Colorado. During the residency, Kahn also found himself questioning a path in Internal Medicine. He looked at pathology and considered ophthalmology before settling on radiology— a specialty that specializes in treating injuries and disease using medical imaging such as X-Rays, MRI and ultrasound.

"Radiology excited me," Kahn wrote, adding it was a multifaceted speciality. "Diagnostic, therapeutic and possibly advancement to sub-specialization where I could use all of my past training and knowledge."

Kahn also addressed the future of the U.S. Recalling the breakdown of Germany that led to the Nazi regime, Kahn admits he's concerned about what he sees as the autocratic direction of the United States. But, he's quick to say he's not "a revolutionary."

Kahn says he's a man who believes in democracy and the U.S. functioning as a republic. It worries him to see the system endangered. COVID-19, political division, the proliferation of misinformation and fidelity to free and fair elections — the credo of the country, Kahn wrote, are among those threats.

"I believe in our type of government," Kahn said. "It's the best type of government and why do we want to change it when all other countries ended in failure? We have Democrats and Republicans, Christians, Jews and Muslims, and we've survived. We don't want to become no longer valuable to the world."

Don Perl, Kahn's friend, a retired educator at the University of Northern Colorado and in Greeley-Evans schools, said he sees "Roentgen and Me" as Kahn's way of warning Americans of what can happen. Perl wrote one of five reviews on the first page.

"The book is Bob's way of speaking out," Perl said. "If you are silent when you see injustice, you are siding with the oppressor."

"Roentgen and Me" is available on Amazon.