Lewis F. Frissell

Son of a Centurion [Algernon S. Frissell] of cherished memory, intellectually successful in school, college and medical school, outstanding as a hospital interne and later one of the leading physicians in this city throughout a long and distinguished career, Lewis Fox Frissell accomplished in life exactly what those who knew him well as a young man expected. At an early stage in his professional life he had acquired a large and important private practice, but in spite of his devotion to those entrusted to his care he found time to serve on hospital staffs and to contribute to medical literature. He was appointed to the staff of St. Luke’s Hospital in 1912, serving as Associate Physician, Attending Physician, and from 1929 to 1938 as Director of one of the medical services. As President of the Medical Board of St. Luke’s Hospital, his administration was dignified and distinguished. For many years a member of the New York Academy of Medicine, he served as trustee from 1935 to 1937. Until his retirement from active hospital duty in 1938, he held the position of Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine in Columbia University.

In all these various relationships, Frissell maintained an unswerving sense of duty and spirit of service. In administrative matters there could never be on his part any compromise with justice and honesty, but always, even when disciplinary measures became necessary, he radiated a kindliness and understanding that seemed more beneficial than the corrective measures themselves. Those who were privileged to be near him at the time of the tragic death of his two sons [one of whom was Centurion Varick Frissell] will never forget the unfaltering courage with which he carried on—fortitude that inspired in many of his colleagues a higher realization of the nobility to which human character can rise.

One of his friends has said: “Lewis Frissell was a complete Centurion,” which really means that what he did and the esteem and affection in which he was held are the outward recognizable reactions to an inner faculty for friendship that has endeared him to a group of choice souls, the memory of which is more significant to them than a material monument. Frissell’s service to the Association, as trustee and on various committees, was not only an indication of his intense affection for the Century, it was also an expression of a deep loyalty, quite as characteristic of him as a whimsical sense of humor which expressed itself in jingles and rhymes about persons and events, always to the point, always without sting or rancor. In the billiard room, where he was an inveterate performer, or in a game of cards in which he frequently participated, or in a conversational group, he displayed, like Major General Stanley, a “pretty taste for paradox,” and in many other ways contributed to the pleasure and gaiety of the occasion.

Geoffrey Parsons
1943 Century Memorials