ABOUT Dr. Behar
- Practices at American Chiropractic Clinic in New Orleans
- Graduated from Life West in 1984
- VP of Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans
- Member, Life West President’s Circle
- Member, New Orleans Human Relations Commission
- Former chairman of state’s LGBT advocacy organization
- americanchiroclinic.com/
Life West alum Marc Behar, DC made his first trip to The WAVE this past year, Life Chiropractic College West’s annual chiropractic conference held in the Bay Area every August.
He’s celebrating 35 years since graduating from Life West this year. So perhaps it’s fitting that one of the things he noticed about The WAVE was the Life West students.
“It was nice to see all these excited students,” he said recently. “A lot of doctors go to seminars and continuing education, and you don’t see students there. It was nice to see students and young chiropractors attending an event – their enthusiasm as they are about to embark on their careers.”
Dr. Behar remembers the early 1980s at Life West with enthusiasm as well.
“It was a wonderful experience,” he said. “I specifically chose Life West. I graduated from Michigan State University with BS in physiology, and I chose
Life West because of the small classrooms, the number of students in the classroom, and I had a brother living in California and decided it would be nice to live close to him.”
At that time Life West was called Pacific States, but Dr. Behar said he knew when he applied that Life University in Georgia was helping Life West work toward accreditation.
“The atmosphere of the school was just a friendly place to be,” he said. “It was very welcoming for students – our classroom only had about 25 students in it!”
In fact, Dr. Behar stayed in the Bay Area once he had graduated, until a friend from Life West who was both a medical doctor and a chiropractor invited him to visit in New Orleans.
“He and his wife moved to the New Orleans area, and they must’ve been lonely because they kept calling me and telling me how wonderful it was,” he said. “I came with a 5-year plan, then I was definitely leaving.”
The friend later moved to Mississippi, but Dr. Behar is still in the New Orleans area after 30 years, practicing in the same building since 1987.
“Since that time I’ve served on the chiropractic association of Louisiana’s board, I’ve been active in local politics and legislative issues, and I am the CCA’s liaison for the New Orleans area as far as handling bills and meeting with legislators to garnish support for our issues,” he said.
His activity in local politics has been aimed at helping the chiropractic association, encouraging other chiropractors to get involved and strengthen the association so they can mount opposition against bills that limit chiropractic services.
Dr. Behar was an active leader during his student years at Life West, too. As then-President Gerry Klum’s assistant, he helped organize the first graduation ceremony for the college, as well as various school activities. He was involved in student government and also acted as the school activities director for a time.
“That gave me the basis for my civic activity now,” he added. He’s on the parish executive committee, similar to a county position here in California, and runs for office every four years. He’s held the post for 27 years now.
His ties to Life West go deep – Dr. Behar went to school with the current college president, Dr. Ron Oberstein. “I knew him when he was 13 years old,” he said. “I’m very impressed with him and what he is doing. I’m glad to support him and this school as it continues to expand and honor the chiropractic profession.”
