MEMORIAL ROBERT M. BIRD BY STEWART G. WOLF
Robert M. Bird died suddenly December 30, 1976. He was 61. Bob was elected to the Climatological in 1956, when he was vice chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Oklahoma and chief of hematology. To the students and house officers he was the Pied Piper of Hamlin. His laboratory was the intellectual center of the department, the social center and the headquarters for informal psychotherapy. Bob presided with his dependable bluntness, humor, tireless curiosity, genuine humility and generosity of spirit so familiar to his friends in the Association; little wonder that the best residents were attracted to his hematology fellowship. Bob's early years were spent near the campus of the University of Virginia where his father was Professor of Chemistry. Bob, of course, attended The High School* and The University** for college and medical school years. He came north to Cornell New York Hospital to intern. By the time he finished his residency there, his Virginia patois had moderated to the point where his case presentation could be understood even by the yankest of yankees. After Pearl Harbor Bob Bird joined the army and served with the Ninth General Hospital (Cornell Unit) in Boston Harbor, Brisbane, Australia, New Guinea and the Phillipines. After the war he joined Dr. Eugene Du Bois' department of Physiology at Cornell for 4 years, and then went into practice with Claude Forkner until the call to Oklahoma came in 1952. Bob Bird's contribution to Oklahoma was immense. His extraordinary capacity for detached judgment together with his unselfish loyalty enabled the Chairman of medicine to steer a steady course, avoiding skoals and whirlpools as the department evolved and gained academic stature. In all of this the chairman's debt to Bob Bird was enormous. Bob went on to become Dean at Oklahoma and to enjoy an unusual distinction. Every one of 6 or 8 physical facilities grant requests to HEW prepared by him were approved and funded. Bob eventually left * Episcopal High School, Charlottesville, Virginia. ** The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. xxxiv
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Oklahoma to become Director of the Lister Hill National Biomedical Communications Center of the National Library of Medicine. During the year before he died, Bob Bird gave the Metzger lecture at the Ponte Vedra meeting of the American Clinical and Climatological Association. His special quality provided a kind of leavening that his friends in the Climatological will sorely miss.
Robert M. Bird died suddenly December 30, 1976. He was 61. Bob was elected to the Climatological in 1956, when he was vice chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Oklahoma and chief of hematology. To the students and house officers he was the Pied Piper of Hamlin. His laboratory was the intellectual center of the department, the social center and the headquarters for informal psychotherapy. Bob presided with his dependable bluntness, humor, tireless curiosity, genuine humility and generosity of spirit so familiar to his friends in the Association; little wonder that the best residents were attracted to his hematology fellowship. Bob's early years were spent near the campus of the University of Virginia where his father was Professor of Chemistry. Bob, of course, attended The High School* and The University** for college and medical school years. He came north to Cornell New York Hospital to intern. By the time he finished his residency there, his Virginia patois had moderated to the point where his case presentation could be understood even by the yankest of yankees. After Pearl Harbor Bob Bird joined the army and served with the Ninth General Hospital (Cornell Unit) in Boston Harbor, Brisbane, Australia, New Guinea and the Phillipines. After the war he joined Dr. Eugene Du Bois' department of Physiology at Cornell for 4 years, and then went into practice with Claude Forkner until the call to Oklahoma came in 1952. Bob Bird's contribution to Oklahoma was immense. His extraordinary capacity for detached judgment together with his unselfish loyalty enabled the Chairman of medicine to steer a steady course, avoiding skoals and whirlpools as the department evolved and gained academic stature. In all of this the chairman's debt to Bob Bird was enormous. Bob went on to become Dean at Oklahoma and to enjoy an unusual distinction. Every one of 6 or 8 physical facilities grant requests to HEW prepared by him were approved and funded. Bob eventually left * Episcopal High School, Charlottesville, Virginia. ** The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. xxxiv
MEMORIAL
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Oklahoma to become Director of the Lister Hill National Biomedical Communications Center of the National Library of Medicine. During the year before he died, Bob Bird gave the Metzger lecture at the Ponte Vedra meeting of the American Clinical and Climatological Association. His special quality provided a kind of leavening that his friends in the Climatological will sorely miss.
