For those who knew him, he was the ideal physician whose empathy, love of knowledge, and warmth reflected his commitment to medicine as an art. He filled his life with the healing triad of learning, laughter, and love bringing encouragement, optimism, and hope to all he met.
Sir William Osler was born July 12, 1849, in the parish of his parents who were Anglican missionaries in the Canadian wilderness. After beginning his clinical and teaching career at McGill University, he helped establish the Medical School at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Osler, the first physician to bring the rigorous disciple of science to the practice of medicine, wove Christian service and imagery into the fabric of medicine. He became known as the physician’s physician.
In his last days at Johns Hopkins, Osler delivered a beautiful psalm of medicine to the Medical Faculty of Maryland. Osler closed the speech with words that honored those who use their unique gifts to serve others.
I would give to each of you who do your greatest work laboring incessantly for small rewards in towns and country places…and to you who have special fields of work—to teachers and professors and scientific workers—to one and all, through the length and breadth of the land—I give a single word as my parting commandment…SERVICE.”
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