In 1905, the estate of Augustus F. Elliot gave money to the University to open its first hospital. Elliot Memorial Hospital opened its doors in 1911. Over the decades, private gifts led to the construction o more than a dozen medical buildings, clinics and hospitals on campus. In 1987, the main hospital services were moved into a new University Hospital. Ten years later, this facility merged with Fairview Health Services.
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Ellis Benson received his MD from the University of Minnesota in 1945, and completed residencies in pathology and internal medicine at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Minneapolis. He joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1949 in the departments of Medicine and Pathology. He chaired the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology from 1966 until his retirement in 1989.
Grace Ederer joined the University of Minnesota in the University Hospital as an administrator of the clinical laboratories, a position she held from 1952 to 1963. During her time at the University, Ederer earned her masters in public health in 1962. After spending fifteen years as administrator of clinical laboratories, she took a new position as assistant to the director of clinical laboratories in the microbiology area of the Division of Medical Technology and became an assistant professor. She became an associate professor in 1967, serving in that position until her retirement in 1982.
Davitt Felder received his MD from Yale School of Medicine in 1942. He earned a PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1953. He completed an internship in surgery at the University of Minnesota. During the 1950s he was assigned to the general surgical services at the University of Minnesota Hospital, Ancker Hospital in St. Paul, and the Minneapolis General Hospital. He spent most of his career in private surgical practice. In the 1960s, he was a founding member of the Northern Association for Medical Education, which led efforts to establish a second medical in St. Paul.
Katherine Lillehei received her nursing diploma in 1943, and her BS in Nursing in 1950 from the University of Minnesota School of Nursing. After graduating she worked as a nurse at University Hospital. She was married to the pioneering cardiac surgeon C. Walton Lillehei. She also remained involved with the School of Nursing, playing a prominent role in its fundraising efforts, and serving on the board of the School of Nursing Foundation.
Marie Manthey was born and raised in Chicago Illinois. She served as associate director of nursing at the University of Minnesota Hospital (1964-1971), as assistant administrator and director of nursing at United Hospitals of St. Paul (during the 1970s), and the vice president of patient services at Yale New Haven Hospital. During her tenure at the University of Minnesota Hospital, Manthey led the development of primary nursing and is recognized, nationally and internationally, as the founder of primary nursing. In 1979, Manthey founded Creative Health Care Management, a consulting firm specializing in the organization and delivery of health care services.
Florence Marks was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1928. She received her BS from the University of Cincinnati in 1949, her BS in Nursing from the University of Minnesota in 1953, and her MA in Nursing Administration also from the University of Minnesota in 1956. From 1953-54, she worked as a general staff nurse and assistant head nurse at the University of Minnesota Hospital. From 1956-1961, she worked as a nursing supervisor at the Variety Club Heart Hospital at the University of Minnesota. In 1962, she was the special assistant to the director of Nursing Services at the University Hospital.
Paul Quie received his MD from Yale Medical School in 1953, and completed his residency in Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota University Hospitals. He has been a member of the faculty of the Department of Pediatrics since 1958. From 1979 until 1984, Dr. Quie was Chief of Staff at the University Hospitals and Clinics, and in 1985 he was the first director of the University's Biomedical Ethics Center.
After earning a bachelor of science in law from the University of Minnesota in 1954 and then attending law school for two years, John Westerman was called up as a member of the ROTC to serve in the Air Force. When he returned from duty, he took additional coursework and earned a bachelor of business administration with a major in finance in 1958. He then attended the University of Minnesota for his Masters in Hospital Administration, which he earned in 1960. He then completed his administrative residency at University Hospital under Ray Amberg from 1959 to 1961. From 1961 to 1964, he served as assistant administrator, in a position akin to chief operating officer, at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, part of Rochester University. Westerman returned to the University of Minnesota to work with Dr. Richard Magraw, under Dean Robert Howard, on expanding the Comprehensive Clinic. As the project grew, he transferred to President O. Meredith Wilson's office as an executive secretary, serving as the coordinator of the Committee for Long Range Planning in the Health Sciences. After serving in this position from 1964 to 1966, he took over as general director of University Hospitals and Clinics in November of 1966. He served in this position until 1982.