I grew up in Whiting, Indiana and was influenced by an aunt who practiced OB-GYN. Undergraduate education, medical school and anesthesiology residency were
at Indiana University. After residency I served 2 years in the Navy where I headed the anesthesia department at the Naval Hospital in Beaufort, SC. Then I came to Chicago to
become head of the anesthesia department at Ravenswood Hospital. While there I taught nurse anesthetists, established a respiratory care department, a blood gas lab, and a coronary care unit. I was there from the summer of 1964 until April 1974 when I joined the faculty at Northwestern and the anesthesia department at Northwestern’s hospital. I taught students and residents in the clinical arena and did clinical research with drugs related to our specialty. Research allow me a sabbatical year in the Netherlands from 1981-82. I authored over 60 publications related to my research, including two academic books. In
2012 I published a book on the history of the department of Anesthesiology at Northwestern from its origin in 1966 until 2010. It was mainly about the people who served in the department. I was the first to administer Propofol to a human in the USA. It is currently the most used drug to induce unconsciousness in people when the undergo surgery. I retired as a full professor at the end of 2012.