Physician
Centurion, 1915–1950
Born 15 August 1868 in London, England
Died 21 September 1950 in New York (Manhattan), New York
Buried Green-Wood Cemetery
, Brooklyn, New York
Proposed by Clement Cleveland and Thomas F. Clark
Elected 6 March 1915 at age forty-six
Century Memorial
Dr. Ward was born in London; and when he was but a year old his father and mother brought him to St. Pierre, Miquelon, on the steamship “Great Eastern.” His father worked for the French Atlantic Cable Company, and the general expectation was that when Ward grew up he would go to work there, too. But he became enormously interested in medicine, and in 1891 he took a medical degree on graduating from the Long Island College of Medicine. Later he studied at the University of Berlin, and in London and Paris, as a graduate student.
His field was obstetrics and gynecology, and he taught these subjects as Professor in Cornell Medical College. In 1918 he became Chief Surgeon of the Woman’s Hospital, and he filled that post till 1938, when he was made Surgeon Emeritus. He was a first-class organizer and the excellent operation of the Hospital today is founded on his systematic records and audits.
He was a skilful and conscientious surgeon, particularly expert in the field of cancer. He introduced radium at the Woman’s Hospital, and was the first to use blood transfusions for ward patients there.
Like every good teacher, Dr. Ward was a never-failing source of inspiration to medical students, while his patients knew him for his gentleness and kindness. He was a distinguished physician, and a modest and humble man.
George W. Martin
1951/1952 Century Association Yearbook
