Lamar Soutter
Encyclopedia
Lamar Soutter, MD was born March 9, 1909 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the son of Helen Elizabeth Whiteside and Robert Soutter, a noted Boston orthopaedic surgeon. He graduated from Harvard college in 1931, with an AB in History, and from Harvard Medical School in 1935. He served residencies in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Thoracics. He was awarded the Silver Star for actions at the Battle of Bastogne
in World War II
, and went on to found the University of Massachusetts Medical School
in Worcester, Massachusetts
.
's first research vessel. Doctor Henry Bryant Bigelow
, the first director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and professor of zoology at Harvard (and later, Soutter's father-in-law) received funding from the Rockefeller Foundation
to build this vessel and to embark upon oceanographic and hydrographic investigations.
, Soutter joined a voyage with the famous Captain Robert A. Bartlett (1875–1946), who had been part of Admiral Robert Perry
's group that discovered the North Pole
in 1909. Bartlett had bought an old schooner, the Effie M. Morrissey
, in 1926 and had been conducting oceanographic expeditions in the Arctic for various scientific organizations.
This particular expedition to northwest Greenland
in 1935 was sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution
, the Field Museum, and the National Museum. Soutter was ship's doctor and chief science officer. Captain Bartlett conducted the hydrographic and mineral studies and Dr. Soutter gathered plankton
and fish samples. Soutter himself conducted almost 100 plankton experiments, many at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning in the full daylight of the midnight sun. These experiments provided a foundation of knowledge of the sea and its inhabitants in cold climates. The expedition was also commissioned to bring back a live baby walrus
for the Bronx Zoo
and to make plaster casts of a narwhal
, a small Arctic whale, for a future Smithsonian exhibit.
, one of the largest zeppelins ever built, exploded in midair over Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey where it was attempting to land. One of the 62 survivors was the Captain of the ship, Max Pruss
. He was barely alive and had sustained severe burns that required several operations. Dr. Soutter, fluent in German, assisted in many surgical procedures on Hindenberg victims, including Captain Pruss. When Captain Pruss was well enough to travel back to his home in Frankfurt, Germany, Dr. Soutter accompanied him. While in Germany, he toured the zeppelin factories in Friedrichshafen near Lake Constance in the southern part of the country.
In 1940 Dr. Soutter went to work at Massachusetts General Hospital
(MGH) to assist on the surgical staff. With the outbreak of World War II
, Dr. Soutter believed that a blood bank was critical for civil defense. He solicited funds to pay for the equipment, and he and his staff created new techniques for blood filtration and purification. Patients were blood typed in advance of their operative procedures. Dr. Soutter helped to create an elaborate system for managing blood and began work advertising for volunteer donors. When the Cocoanut Grove fire
occurred in Boston in November 1942, large amounts of stored plasma from the MGH blood bank played a major role in the treatment of the 500 injured.
On December 26, 1944 Dr. Soutter was the first volunteer when General McAuliffe called for medical assistance for the wounded troops who were surrounded at Bastogne in Belgium near the French border. Twelve medical personnel filed into an engineless glider that had been loaded with medical supplies. The glider's towline was picked up by a C47 cargo plane and the aircraft became airborne. Then, the tether line was disengaged and the glider sailed low and silent over the forests of Ardennes. They landed in the middle of a field. The occupants had to wait for a lull in the fighting to leave the glider and then had to run for the medical tent. Dr. Soutter and the other medical personnel performed 63 operations in the next 24 hours. Within the next couple of days, the First and Third Army Divisions broke through the enemy perimeter and began to make their way to liberate Bastogne. In mid-January 1945 Dr. Soutter and each member of his medical team received the Silver Star (see left below), the second highest military medal awarded, for "conspicuous gallantry in action."
In 2002 the World War II Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge Association named their Worcester chapter after Soutter .
After Bastogne, Dr. Soutter was attached to the 42nd Field Hospital, where he worked with Corporal James K. Sunshine, Surgical Technician 3rd Platoon. Mr. Sunshine recounted his World War II experiences and the beginning of a lifelong friendship with Major Soutter in an article originally published under the title "War Stories" in the Providence Sun Journal in 1994 .
An account of Dr. Soutter and his team's work in Bastogne was published in the Army's That Men Might Live—The Story of the Army Medical Corps
in the 1960s, he was instrumental in orchestrating a merger of the Harvard Medical School's library collection with that of the Boston Medical Library in 1965. A large medical library, the Francis A. Countway Library, was being built expressly for the purpose of the merger. Harvard's library collection was established in 1782, the date of the founding of the medical school there, and the Boston Medical Library's collection was established in 1875.
When Dr. Soutter came to Worcester in the late 1960s, he was the catalyst for the merger of the library collection of the Worcester District Medical Society with that of the newly founded University of Massachusetts Medical School. The plans for the new school's library included a Rare Book Room specifically intended to house the collection of the Worcester Medical Library, which was established in 1798. The merger finally became a reality when the Medical School Library opened its doors in 1973. Mr. Charles C. Colby III, Librarian at the Boston Medical Library, was the library consultant on the project. The Medical School Library was renamed The Lamar Soutter Library in 1981 in Dr. Soutter's honor.
and in December 1963 Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody
named Dr. Soutter Dean of the Medical School project. In February 1964 Dr. Soutter began to select faculty, and on October 23, 1969 ground was broken at the campus in Worcester. The first class was graduated in 1974.
UMass Medical School Exhibit on Dr. Soutter
Lamar Soutter publications
Battle of Bastogne
The Siege of Bastogne was an engagement between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. The goal of the German offensive was the harbor at Antwerp. In order to reach it before the Allies could regroup and bring their superior air power...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and went on to found the University of Massachusetts Medical School
University of Massachusetts Medical School
The University of Massachusetts Medical School is one of five campuses of the University of Massachusetts system and is home to three schools: the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Graduate School of Nursing; a biomedical research enterprise; and a range of...
in Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
.
The Atlantis, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
In July 1931 Soutter signed on to be a crew member on the maiden sail of the Atlantis, Woods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of all aspects of marine science and engineering and to the education of marine researchers. Established in 1930, it is the largest independent oceanographic research...
's first research vessel. Doctor Henry Bryant Bigelow
Henry Bryant Bigelow
Henry Bryant Bigelow was an American oceanographer and marine biologist.After graduating from Harvard in 1901, he began working with famed ichthyologist Alexander Agassiz. Bigelow accompanied Agassiz on several major marine science expeditions including one aboard the Albatross in 1907...
, the first director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and professor of zoology at Harvard (and later, Soutter's father-in-law) received funding from the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
to build this vessel and to embark upon oceanographic and hydrographic investigations.
The Rat and McKenzie Rivers, Yukon Territory
In the summer of 1933 Soutter and a friend, Graham Webster, paddled a canoe 1500-miles through uncharted Yukon wilderness. They experienced several setbacks, including a serious injury for Webster. They arrived safely at Ft. Yukon and traveled home through Fairbanks, Alaska.Captain Robert A. Bartlett and the Effie M. Morrissey, Summer 1935
The summer after he graduated from Harvard Medical SchoolHarvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
, Soutter joined a voyage with the famous Captain Robert A. Bartlett (1875–1946), who had been part of Admiral Robert Perry
Robert Perry
Robert Perry is a television writer. He was script-editor on the BBC soap opera EastEnders, as well as writing for the television series Family Affairs and Is Harry on the Boat?. He has also worked on Emmerdale...
's group that discovered the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
in 1909. Bartlett had bought an old schooner, the Effie M. Morrissey
Effie M. Morrissey
The Effie M. Morrissey was a schooner skippered by Robert Bartlett that made many scientific expeditions to the Arctic, sponsored by American museums, the Explorers Club and the National Geographic Society. It also helped survey the Arctic for the United States Government during World War II...
, in 1926 and had been conducting oceanographic expeditions in the Arctic for various scientific organizations.
This particular expedition to northwest Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
in 1935 was sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, the Field Museum, and the National Museum. Soutter was ship's doctor and chief science officer. Captain Bartlett conducted the hydrographic and mineral studies and Dr. Soutter gathered plankton
Plankton
Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...
and fish samples. Soutter himself conducted almost 100 plankton experiments, many at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning in the full daylight of the midnight sun. These experiments provided a foundation of knowledge of the sea and its inhabitants in cold climates. The expedition was also commissioned to bring back a live baby walrus
Walrus
The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...
for the Bronx Zoo
Bronx Zoo
The Bronx Zoo is located in the Bronx borough of New York City, within Bronx Park. It is the largest metropolitan zoo in the United States, comprising of park lands and naturalistic habitats, through which the Bronx River flows....
and to make plaster casts of a narwhal
Narwhal
The narwhal, Monodon monoceros, is a medium-sized toothed whale that lives year-round in the Arctic. One of two living species of whale in the Monodontidae family, along with the beluga whale, the narwhal males are distinguished by a characteristic long, straight, helical tusk extending from their...
, a small Arctic whale, for a future Smithsonian exhibit.
Residency in New York, and the Hindenberg Disaster
On May 6, 1937 the HindenburgLZ 129 Hindenburg
LZ 129 Hindenburg was a large German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume...
, one of the largest zeppelins ever built, exploded in midair over Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey where it was attempting to land. One of the 62 survivors was the Captain of the ship, Max Pruss
Max Pruss
Max Pruss was the commander of the LZ 129 Hindenburg on its last voyage and a surviving crew member of the zeppelin disaster.-Biography:...
. He was barely alive and had sustained severe burns that required several operations. Dr. Soutter, fluent in German, assisted in many surgical procedures on Hindenberg victims, including Captain Pruss. When Captain Pruss was well enough to travel back to his home in Frankfurt, Germany, Dr. Soutter accompanied him. While in Germany, he toured the zeppelin factories in Friedrichshafen near Lake Constance in the southern part of the country.
MGH Blood Bank and the Cocoanut Grove Fire
After Dr. Soutter left his residencies in New York City, he settled back in Boston, his hometown.In 1940 Dr. Soutter went to work at Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital is a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...
(MGH) to assist on the surgical staff. With the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Dr. Soutter believed that a blood bank was critical for civil defense. He solicited funds to pay for the equipment, and he and his staff created new techniques for blood filtration and purification. Patients were blood typed in advance of their operative procedures. Dr. Soutter helped to create an elaborate system for managing blood and began work advertising for volunteer donors. When the Cocoanut Grove fire
Cocoanut Grove fire
The Cocoanut Grove was Boston's premier nightclub during the post-Prohibition 1930s and 40s. On November 28, 1942, occurred the scene of what remains the deadliest nightclub fire, killing 492 people and injuring hundreds more...
occurred in Boston in November 1942, large amounts of stored plasma from the MGH blood bank played a major role in the treatment of the 500 injured.
World War II, Bastogne and the Silver Star
In 1943 Dr. Soutter was assigned to the Army's Fourth Auxiliary Surgical Unit and commanded a team attached to the First and Third Armies who were fighting in Europe.On December 26, 1944 Dr. Soutter was the first volunteer when General McAuliffe called for medical assistance for the wounded troops who were surrounded at Bastogne in Belgium near the French border. Twelve medical personnel filed into an engineless glider that had been loaded with medical supplies. The glider's towline was picked up by a C47 cargo plane and the aircraft became airborne. Then, the tether line was disengaged and the glider sailed low and silent over the forests of Ardennes. They landed in the middle of a field. The occupants had to wait for a lull in the fighting to leave the glider and then had to run for the medical tent. Dr. Soutter and the other medical personnel performed 63 operations in the next 24 hours. Within the next couple of days, the First and Third Army Divisions broke through the enemy perimeter and began to make their way to liberate Bastogne. In mid-January 1945 Dr. Soutter and each member of his medical team received the Silver Star (see left below), the second highest military medal awarded, for "conspicuous gallantry in action."
In 2002 the World War II Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge Association named their Worcester chapter after Soutter .
After Bastogne, Dr. Soutter was attached to the 42nd Field Hospital, where he worked with Corporal James K. Sunshine, Surgical Technician 3rd Platoon. Mr. Sunshine recounted his World War II experiences and the beginning of a lifelong friendship with Major Soutter in an article originally published under the title "War Stories" in the Providence Sun Journal in 1994 .
An account of Dr. Soutter and his team's work in Bastogne was published in the Army's That Men Might Live—The Story of the Army Medical Corps
Boston University
In 1952 Dr. Soutter became an associate professor in the surgery department of the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM). There he developed innovative ideas about medical education and how it is structured. He saw a need for medical education to broaden itself to include much more than just chemistry and science. He realized that the delivery of health care had to change and the education of physicians must follow suit. The number of generalist physicians was declining, and Dr. Soutter sought to address this problem by training more generalists who would work along with the specialists. At BUSM his career as a medical educator progressed from his appointment as Associate Dean in 1955, to Acting Dean in 1959, and then to Dean in 1960.Medical Libraries
Dr. Soutter took an active interest in libraries and the role they have played in the education of physicians throughout the ages. As a trustee of the Boston Medical LibraryBoston Medical Library
The Boston Medical Library of Boston, Massachusetts, which evolved into the "largest academic medical library in the world," was originally organized to alleviate the problem that had emerged due to the scattered distribution of medical texts throughout the city.-Early History:In 1875, the Society...
in the 1960s, he was instrumental in orchestrating a merger of the Harvard Medical School's library collection with that of the Boston Medical Library in 1965. A large medical library, the Francis A. Countway Library, was being built expressly for the purpose of the merger. Harvard's library collection was established in 1782, the date of the founding of the medical school there, and the Boston Medical Library's collection was established in 1875.
When Dr. Soutter came to Worcester in the late 1960s, he was the catalyst for the merger of the library collection of the Worcester District Medical Society with that of the newly founded University of Massachusetts Medical School. The plans for the new school's library included a Rare Book Room specifically intended to house the collection of the Worcester Medical Library, which was established in 1798. The merger finally became a reality when the Medical School Library opened its doors in 1973. Mr. Charles C. Colby III, Librarian at the Boston Medical Library, was the library consultant on the project. The Medical School Library was renamed The Lamar Soutter Library in 1981 in Dr. Soutter's honor.
UMass Medical School
In October 1962 Legislation was enacted establishing the University of Massachusetts Medical SchoolUniversity of Massachusetts Medical School
The University of Massachusetts Medical School is one of five campuses of the University of Massachusetts system and is home to three schools: the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Graduate School of Nursing; a biomedical research enterprise; and a range of...
and in December 1963 Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody
Endicott Peabody
Endicott "Chub" Peabody was the 62nd Governor of Massachusetts from January 3, 1963 to January 7, 1965.-Early life:...
named Dr. Soutter Dean of the Medical School project. In February 1964 Dr. Soutter began to select faculty, and on October 23, 1969 ground was broken at the campus in Worcester. The first class was graduated in 1974.
UMass Medical School Exhibit on Dr. Soutter
Lamar Soutter publications