Edward W. Pinkham

Dr. Pinkham, helping to maintain the Century’s tradition for longevity, had outlived most of his contemporaries when he died at the age of ninety. He had lived for twenty years in Sarasota, Florida. As the Club received no notification of his death, his memorial was not included with those of 1960. His name was seen, however, on the peg-in board in the front hall, by someone who knew of his death; your Historian now enters his memorial.

Edward Pinkham was educated at Harvard College from which he graduated in 1892 and took his doctor’s degree at the Harvard Medical School in 1895. He was a specialist in gynecology and was professor of that subject at Post Graduate (now University) Hospital. He was attending surgeon at Woman’s and City Hospitals. From 1925 to 1934, he was attending physician at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

He had a remarkable war record. In the Spanish-American War he was a first lieutenant and assistant surgeon. In the Philippines, he was awarded two Silver Stars for gallantry in action. Although he retired in 1934, he again served in the Second World War, holding the rank of colonel in the Army Medical Corps. He was in charge of a hospital center at Joué-les-tours, France.

In time off from his exigent work, he was a great golf enthusiast; in the evenings, poker was a means of relaxation. He had three dominating passions: Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, and the Army. His sons, however, were mavericks—one went to Yale, the other chose the Navy.

He was a devoted Centurion and in the years he spent in New York, was often at the Club. He was a member for forty-nine years—more than half his life.

Roger Burlingame
1962 Century Association Yearbook