Selected Biographies

Edward H. Angle (1855-1930)

Edward H. Angle, the father of modern orthodontics, was born in Pennsylvania in 1855.  After a year-long apprenticeship with a family friend who was a dentist, Angle entered the Pennsylvania College of Dentistry, graduating in the spring of 1876.  During his training Angle developed an interest in orthodontia, finding it a field in which he could apply his interest in mechanical design and invention.  In 1880 Angle invented his first dental appliance, a jack and traction screw.

In 1885 Angle was appointed to the chair of orthodontia at the University of Minnesota.  In 1892 Angle gave up his general practice, becoming the first to specialize in the practice and teaching of orthodontia.  He taught at several dental schools, including Northwestern University, the Marion-Sims School of Dentistry, and the Dental Department of Washington University (1898-1900).

In St. Louis in 1900, Angle established the first post-graduate school of orthodontics in the world, the Edward H. Angle School of Orthodontia.  Dr. Angle and the first graduates of his school organized the first orthodontic society, “The Society of Orthodontists,” which has evolved into the American Association of Orthodontists.  In 1908 Angle moved his school to New York, and in 1916 he moved it to California.  Angle died in Pasadena, California in 1930.

Angle contributed to the design of many orthodontic appliances and operations.  He is best known for devising the first simple classification system for malocclusions, based on the first molar as the key to occlusion.  His classification system is still in use today for orthodontic diagnosis.

Walter Manny Bartlett (1862-1948)

Walter M. Bartlett was born in New Orleans in 1862.  He entered the field of dentistry in 1878 as an apprentice to a New Orleans dentist, coming to St. Louis in 1884 as Technician in the office of Dr. H. H. Keith.  Bartlett entered the Missouri Dental College as both student and instructor in 1888, graduating with the D.D.S. in 1890.  He served as associate professor of Mechanical Dentistry at his alma mater until 1895 when he resigned to devote his time to the enactment of laws exempting dentists from jury duty (passed in 1896) and creating a state Dental Board (passed in 1897).  The governor appointed Bartlett the first president of the Missouri State Board of Dental Examiners, where he investigated and expelled graduates of diploma mills from practicing dentistry in the state.

In 1901 Bartlett resigned from the State Board of Dental Examiners and returned to his alma mater (then the Dental Department of Washington University) as professor of Prosthetic Dentistry and secretary of the faculty.  Bartlett became dean of the faculty in 1922 and was instrumental in the erection of a new dental school building and the purchase of new equipment, paving the way for the school to obtain a Class “A” rating.

In 1932 was awarded an honorary Master of Science degree and made dean emeritus.  He retired from active practice as a dentist in 1940 due to failing eyesight.  Bartlett died in 1948.

Orion Willis Bedell (1870-1946)

Orion Willis Bedell, the son of a dentist, started studying dentistry at the age of sixteen.  At nineteen he began his own private practice in his native Ohio.  He soon moved to Nebraska, where he became acquainted with Dr. Herbert C. Miller, an 1885 graduate of the Missouri Dental College.  Miller suggested Bedell move to St. Louis to enroll in the dental school to earn his dental diploma.  In September 1889 Bedell and his family (then still in Ohio) did just that.  Orion Bedell enrolled at the both the Missouri Dental College and the St. Louis Medical College, eager to earn both a dental and medical degree.

Bedell graduated cum laude from the Dental Department of Washington University in 1892, whereupon he was appointed demonstrator in Operative Dentistry.  He graduated cum laude from the St. Louis Medical College in 1894.  In 1895 Bedell became full professor of Operative Dentistry and in 1898 he was elected chair of the Institute of Dental Sciences.  Bedell resigned from the faculty in 1902 in order to devote his full efforts to private practice.  He died in September 1946.

David A. Bensinger (b. 1926)

David A. Bensinger received his undergraduate degree from Washington University and earned his dental degree from St. Louis University School of Dentistry in 1948.  In 1977 Bensinger received a degree in health systems management from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

Bensinger joined the faculty of the Washington University School of Dentistry in 1948 as an instructor of dental medicine; he became an associate professor in 1956 and a full professor in 1976.  He was named assistant dean in 1967 and associate dean in 1973.  The major renovation of the School of Dentistry building, completed in 1972, was completed under his supervision.  From July to September 1976, between the retirement of John T. Bird and the arrival of George D. Selfridge, Bensinger served as acting dean.  After the retirement of Dr. Selfridge in 1987, Bensinger was appointed dean, serving until his retirement in 1989.

In 1968, the Washington University Alumni Association named Bensinger Alumnus of the Year, honoring him for his work to prevent closure of the school the previous year.  A specialist in periodontics, Bensinger served as president of the Midwestern Society of Periodontists; he also served as president of the Missouri Dental Association and was also a fellow of both the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists.

John T. Bird, Jr. (b. 1919)

John Bird was born in 1919 in Cairo, Illinois.  After receiving his D.D.S. degree from the Washington University School of Dentistry in December 1943, Bird served for almost three years as an Army dental officer, rising to the rank of Major and the post of Division Dental Surgeon for the European-African Division of the Air Transport Command.

Bird joined the faculty of the School of Dental Medicine in 1947 as instructor in Radiodontics and Dental Medicine.  He was promoted to assistant professor in 1948, associate professor in 1951, and professor in 1967.  In the 1950s Bird became active in the school’s administration, serving as director of Clinics and secretary of the faculty; he was named assistant dean in 1957.  Bird became associate dean in 1961 and was named dean of the school in 1967, following a two-year leave of absence during which he obtained an M.A. degree in Higher Education from the University of Michigan.  Bird helped to conduct the dental school’s Baby Tooth Survey to determine the amount of strontium-90 levels in teeth shed by children in the St. Louis area.

Bird was a diplomate of the American Board of Endodontics and a fellow of the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists.  The Washington University Alumni Association awarded Dean Bird with a Distinguished Faculty Award in 1975.  Bird resigned from the faculty and as dean in July 1976.

Greene Vardiman Black (1836-1915)

G. V. Black is credited with establishing dentistry as a scientific profession, raising it from a mechanical art to a professional status.  Born in central Illinois in 1836, Black was much more interested in mechanics and natural phenomena – trees, animals, and insects – than in formal schooling.  At seventeen Black began his study of medicine in the office of his brother, Thomas G. Black, who was practicing in Clayton, Illinois.  By 1857 Black had developed an interest in dentistry and began studying under Dr. J. C. Spears, who was practicing in the nearby town of Mt. Sterling.  After a year working under Dr. Spears, and reading his preceptor’s one book on dentistry three times, Black opened his own dental practice in Winchester, Illinois.

In 1862 Black enlisted in the 129th Illinois Volunteers and served as an army scout.  A serious war injury, and six months of recovery in a Louisville hospital, led to Black’s discharge in 1863.  He opened a dental practice in Jacksonville, Illinois, and there began the research, experimentation and teaching that helped change the practice of dentistry.  Studies in chemistry and physics led to Black’s research on gold foil and the effects of certain gases on its cohesive properties.  Black studied histology and became a proficient microscopist.  In 1870 Black invented a cord-driven dental engine – the first of this kind ever constructed.  He invented and patented a foot motor, and a tool for lettering marble and stone.  He was one of the first to use nitrous oxide gas as an anesthetic in dentistry.

Black invented an electric thermostat, a micrometer for measuring amalgam expansion, a machine for grinding sections of teeth, and a microtome.  Other inventions include several dynamometers: the manudyamometer (for measuring finger pressure), the tupfodynamometer (for measuring the force of mallet blows), the phagodynamometer (for measuring the amount of force required to masticate various foods), and the gnathodynamometer (for measuring the strength of the bite).

Black’s contributions to dentistry include systemizing the operative treatment of dental caries and formulating the principle of extension for prevention, devising a system of dental nomenclature, writing the first text book of human dental anatomy, discovering a method of maintaining the cohesive properties of gold foil and describing the physical and chemical principles of its contamination, and his studies of the physical properties of amalgam, dental calculus, dental pathology and dental bacteriology.

G. V. Black joined the Missouri State Dental Society in 1866 and the Illinois State Dental Society in 1868.  He served as president of the latter in 1870-71.  From 1870 to 1880 Black lectured regularly in pathology, histology and operative dentistry at the Missouri Dental College in St. Louis, a 100-mile journey from Jacksonville.  In 1878 the Missouri Dental College awarded Black the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery.  Black was elected the first president of the Illinois State Board of Dental Examiners, serving from 1881 to 1887.  In 1884 the Chicago Medical College (Northwestern University Medical School) conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Medicine.

In 1883 Black was appointed to the Chair in Dental Pathology at the Chicago College of Dental Surgery, a position he held for six years.  In 1890-91 Black served as professor of Dental Pathology and Bacteriology at the University of Iowa.  From 1891 to 1897 Black was professor of Dental Pathology and Bacteriology at Northwestern University Dental School.  In 1897 Dr. Black closed his Jacksonville practice and accepted the deanship of the Northwestern University Dental School.  He served there as dean until his death in 1915.

Leroy Robb Boling (1905-1984)

Leroy R. Boling was born in Willapa, Washington in 1905.  He graduated from Linfield College in Oregon in 1928 with an A.B. degree; he earned a M.S. degree in zoology in 1930 and a Ph.D. degree in Anatomy in 1935, both from Washington University.

Boling joined the faculty of the Washington University School of Dentistry in 1930; he was appointed assistant professor of Anatomy and Histology in 1936 and became professor of Anatomy in 1944.  He served at the dental school as secretary of the faculty (1939-1953), registrar (1939-1946), and assistant dean (1952-1953).  Boling was named dean of the School of Dental Medicine in July 1953, retiring in 1967 to return to teaching full-time.  In 1976 Boling retired from teaching, though he continued to work with the dental school’s Admission office until 1984.

Boling’s activities outside Washington University included serving as consultant to the Council on Dental Education and consultant to the Council on the National Board of Dental Examiners from 1950 to 1968.  Dr. Boling was a member of the American Association of Anatomists, the International Association for Dental Research, a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was the first non-dentist to be a fellow in the American College of Dentists.

After his retirement as dean, Boling was active in the American Dental Association Vietnam Project, where he served as advisor to the Faculty of Dentistry and consultant in basic sciences to the University of Saigon from 1967 to 1971.

Otto William Brandhorst (1889-1974)

Otto W. Brandhorst, a native of Nashville, Illinois, received his D.D.S. from the Washington University School of Dentistry in 1915.  After receiving his degree, Brandhorst joined the faculty as an instructor in orthodontics and in dental histology, progressing to the rank of professor in 1930.  Brandhorst was appointed dean of the school in 1945 and served in that capacity until 1953.

During his long dental career, Brandhorst served as president of the St. Louis Society of Orthodontists, the St. Louis Dental Society, and the Missouri State Dental Association.  In 1952-53 Brandhorst served as president of the American Dental Association.  He served as secretary of the American College of Dentists from 1935 to 1969 and as its president in 1970-71.  Over the years Brandhorst was also an active member of the American Association of Dental Editors, the American Association of Orthodontists, and the American Association of Dental Schools.

In 1955 the Medical College of Virginia honored Brandhorst with an honorary Doctor of Science degree.  Temple University similarly honored Brandhorst in 1957.  Brandhorst authored The American College of Dentists: its history, organization, objectives, and how it functions, published in 1971.  Dr. Brandhorst died in 1974.

William S. Brandhorst (1917-2005)

Born in St. Louis in 1917, William S. Brandhorst received his B.S. degree from Harvard University in 1939 and his D.D.S. degree from the Washington University School of Dentistry in 1943.  After serving in the Army Dental Corps during World War II, Brandhorst went on to earn his M.S. in Orthodontics from the University of Michigan in 1948.

Brandhorst returned to St. Louis to join his father, Otto W. Brandhorst, in the practice of orthodontics and to join the orthodontics faculty of the Washington University School of Dentistry, where his father was dean.  While maintaining a private practice, Brandhorst rose to the rank of clinical professor of Orthodontics.

Dr. Brandhorst was an active member of the St. Louis Cleft Palate Team and served as vice president of the American Cleft Palate Association.  He served as president of the Greater St. Louis Dental Society, the Missouri Dental Association, and the Midwest Society of Orthodontists.  He was also a fellow of the American College of Dentists.  The Washington University School of Dental Medicine recognized Brandhorst as Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 1986.  In 1989 Brandhorst was recognized by Washington University with its Distinguished Alumni Award.  The Midwest Society of Orthodontists honored Brandhorst with its Earl E. Shepard Distinguished Service Award in 1990.

William Henry Eames (1828-1894)

William Henry Eames was born in Auburn, New York in 1828.  While studying medicine at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor he became interested in dentistry after meeting a locally prominent dentist, Dr. Henry Porter.  Eames moved to Cincinnati to attend the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, where he graduated with honors as D.D.S. in 1853.  He then returned to Ann Arbor to practice dentistry in partnership with Dr. Porter, remaining there until 1857.

Eames next moved to Lebanon, Tennessee to establish a dental practice.  By 1862 the turmoil of the Civil War made life unpleasant, so Eames moved north to the larger city of St. Louis where his opportunities might expand.  He quickly became established in St. Louis, becoming an organizer of both the Missouri State Dental Association (1865) and the Missouri Dental College (1866).  Eames taught at the Missouri Dental College for twenty-eight years – he was elected the first professor of Artificial Dentistry and served as professor of the Institute of Dental Science.  He served as dean of the faculty from 1875 to 1878.  In all his years of teaching, Eames reportedly never failed to fill his lecture hour.

Eames served as president of the St. Louis Dental Society (1868), the Missouri State Dental Association (1869), the Mississippi Valley Dental Association (1873-74), and the National Association of Dental Faculties (1892); and as a member of the American Dental Association, and the Illinois and Iowa State Dental Societies.  He died in St. Louis on March 29, 1894.

Albert Homer Fuller (1841-1912)

Albert Homer Fuller, born in 1841 in Massachusetts, was a teacher when the Civil War broke out.  He enlisted and served with the One Hundred and Eighteenth Illinois Infantry until the end of the war, retiring as Second Lieutenant.  After the war, Fuller came to St. Louis and entered the office of his uncle, Dr. Homer Judd, as a student of medicine and dentistry.  Fuller graduated in 1871 from both the St. Louis Medical College and the Missouri Dental College with degrees in both medicine and dentistry.

Upon his graduation Fuller was appointed demonstrator of Surgical and Operative Dentistry at the Missouri Dental College.  In 1874 he was elected professor of Mechanical Dentistry, and in 1879 professor of Operative Dentistry.  From 1873 until 1899 Fuller served as secretary of the Faculty, and in November 1899 at the death of Dr. H. H. Mudd, Fuller was elected dean of the faculty.  In 1901 Fuller resigned as dean and from the faculty, and was made emeritus professor of Operative Dentistry.

Fuller joined the Missouri State Dental Association in 1871 and served as its president in 1878.  He retired from the practice of medicine in 1909 and died in 1912.

Thomas Lewis Gilmer (1849-1931)

Born in Lincoln County, Missouri in 1849, Thomas L. Gilmer received his D.D.S. degree in 1882 from the Missouri Dental College and his M.D. degree from the Quincy College of Medicine in 1885.  Gilmer’s study of dentistry and medicine was not surprising; he was a member of the fifth generation of his family to practice medicine in America.  Gilmer’s great-great-grandfather George Gilmer had begun his practice in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1731.

Gilmer practiced medicine and dentistry in Quincy, Illinois from 1876 to 1889.  After receiving his medical degree, Gilmer served as Oral Surgeon at St. Mary’s Hospital in Quincy and taught microscopy and histology at the Quincy College of Medicine.  Gilmer moved to Chicago in 1889, serving as adjunct professor of Oral Surgery at the Chicago College of Dental Surgery (1889-90).  In 1891 Gilmer was instrumental in the establishment of the Northwestern University Dental School, serving as its third dean and professor of Oral Surgery.  Gilmer was a founder of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago, serving on its board of governors and as its president.  Northwestern University awarded Gilmer an honorary Sc.D. degree in 1911.

John E. Gilster (b. 1922)

John E. Gilster, a 1944 graduate of the Washington University School of Dental Medicine, served on its faculty for almost forty years.  He joined the faculty in 1950 as instructor in Pediatric Dentistry.  He rose to become chairman of the Department of Pedodontics in 1957 and professor and chairman of the Department in 1959.  Though Gilster retired as department chairman in 1967, he remained professor of Clinical Pedodontics until his retirement in 1987.

Gilster served as chairman of the American Board of Pedodontics in 1966 and as president of the American Association of Dental Editors in 1971.  In addition, he was a fellow of the American Academy of Pedodontics, the American College of Dentists, and the International College of Dentists.  Gilster served as editor of the Greater St. Louis Dental Society Bulletin (1953-1963) and of the Journal of the Missouri Dental Association (1963-1973).  Gilster was a founding member of the board of the directors of the National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasias.

For his many accomplishments, Gilster was recognized by the Washington University Dental Alumni Association as a Distinguished Alumni in 1977; he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Washington University in 1987.

Robert J. Gorlin (b. 1923)

Orofacial geneticist Robert J. Gorlin received his D.D.S. degree from the Washington University School of Dentistry in 1947.  Over the course of his career, Gorlin has discovered over one hundred syndromes and diseases of the head and neck, including the Gorlin Cyst (calcifying odontogenic cyst) and the Gorlin Syndrome (nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome).  Gorlin has authored over 600 scientific articles and almost 20 books, including four editions of the noted textbook, Syndromes of the Head and Neck.

In 1956 Gorlin joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, where he became professor and chairman of the Division of Oral Pathology in 1958, and regents professor in 1979.  Gorlin is currently regents professor emeritus of Oral Pathology.  He has served as president of the International Association for Dental Research, the American Academy of Oral Pathology, and the International Society of Craniofacial Biology.

In 2003 Gorlin received the American Dental Association’s highest honor, the Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Dental Research.  The following year Gorlin received the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Award for Excellence in Human Genetics Education.  Dr. Gorlin holds honorary doctorates from the University of Maryland, the University of Minnesota, the University of Athens (Greece), Aristotle University (Greece), and the University of Copenhagen (Denmark).

Touro M. Graber (b. 1917)

T. M. Graber, a 1940 graduate of the Washington University School of Dentistry, received his M.S.D. in 1946 and his Ph.D. in 1950 from the Northwestern University School of Dentistry.  From 1946 to 1958 Graber taught orthodontics at Northwestern.  He co-founded the school’s Cleft Lip and Palate Institute in 1947 and served as its director of research from 1947 to 1958.  In 1964 Graber founded the Kenilworth Dental Research Foundation.  From 1969 to 1982 he served as professor and head of the Orthodontic Section at the Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago.

From 1985 to 2000 Graber served as editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Orthodontics, which under his term was renamed the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics.  A prolific author, Graber has written 20 books and over 160 scientific articles.  He is a recipient of the Albert H. Ketcham Award of the American Association of Orthodontists and the Jarabak International Teacher’s Award.

Graber is still active, serving as clinical professor of Orthodontics at the University of Illinois, editor-in-chief of the World Journal of Orthodontics, and director of the Kenilworth Dental Research Foundation.

Samuel E. Guyer (b. 1922)

Samuel E. Guyer joined faculty of the Washington University School of Dentistry as an instructor of Fixed Prosthodontics after his graduation in 1952.  He rose to become chairman and professor of the Department in 1960.  He served as Clinic Director from 1960 to 1969 and secretary of the faculty from 1978 to 1983.  In 1977 Guyer became chairman of the Department of Restorative Dentistry, which incorporated the former departments of Dental Anatomy, Dental Materials, Fixed and Removable Prosthodontics and Occlusion.  In 1985 he was named professor of Restorative Dentistry and in 1987 professor emeritus of Restorative Dentistry.

In 1961 Guyer became a fellow in the American College of Dentists and in 1963 a diplomate of the American Board of Prosthodontics.  Dr. Guyer served as president of the American Board of Prosthodontics in 1971, the Federation of Prosthodontic Organizations in 1976, and the American Academy of Crown and Bridge Prosthodontics (now the American Academy of Fixed Prosthodontics) in 1978.  Between 1964 and 1989 Guyer served in various consultant roles to the U. S. Army, the U. S. Air Force, the Veterans Administration, and the ADA Council on Dental Education.

In 1993 the Washington University School of Dental Medicine Alumni awarded Guyer its Distinguished Alumni Award.  In 1996 Guyer was honored by the American Academy of Fixed Prosthodontics with its George H. Moulton Achievement Award in recognition of his five decades of service as an educator, author, administrator, researcher and clinician in fixed prosthodontics.

Homer Judd (1820-1890)

Homer Judd was born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts in 1820.  He received his medical degree from the Berkshire Medical College in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1847, and then moved to Baltimore to take a private course in dentistry with Dr. Cyrencurs O. Cone.  Judd moved then to Ravenna, Ohio, where he practiced medicine and dentistry.  In 1849 Judd went west with a wagon train destined for California; en route he was appointed train surgeon.  When the train reached Santa Fe, New Mexico, Judd decided to locate there, thus becoming the first professionally trained dentist to practice in that territory.  After one summer Judd returned to Ohio, and in the fall of 1850 he moved to Warsaw, Illinois and practiced medicine and dentistry in partnership with Dr. Charles Coolidge, a physician.

In 1861 Judd moved to St. Louis where he practiced dentistry until the outbreak of the Civil War.  He first served as a contract surgeon in the hospital service.  After the Battle of Shiloh Judd was appointed surgeon of the Thirty-fourth Missouri Infantry, where he was one of four surgeons charged with the care of five hundred wounded soldiers on board of a hospital steamer.  Judd subsequently was appointed surgeon of the Fortieth Regiment of the Missouri Volunteers.

At the end of the war Judd returned to dental practice in St. Louis, where he was associated with Dr. John S. Clark.  Judd’s research interest was the study of histology.  In addition Judd was interested in microscopy and was active in the formation of the St. Louis Microscopical Club.

Judd became a leader in dentistry in St. Louis and the state of Missouri, helping to found the Missouri Dental Association (1865), the Missouri Dental College (1866), and the Missouri Dental Journal (1869).  He served for seven years as the first dean of the Missouri Dental College and served for five years as the first editor-in-chief of the Missouri Dental Journal.

Judd served as president of the American Dental Association (1868-68), the Missouri State Dental Association (1867-68), and the St. Louis Dental Society (1869); as a member of the American Medical Association, the St. Louis Medical Society, the St. Louis Academy of Sciences, and the St. Louis Microscopical Society; and as honorary member of the California, Iowa, Sixth District Society of New York, and the Illinois State Dental Associations.

In 1880 Dr. Judd’s health failed.  He retired from practice and moved first to Colorado, then Mason City, Iowa, and finally to Upper Alton, Illinois.  Judd died on May 20, 1890 of cancer of the stomach and was buried in Pittsfield, Illinois.

Henry Howard Keith (1847-1899)

Henry H. Keith was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1847.  After a short time in a machine shop to learn the use of tools, Keith was apprenticed to his uncle, a jeweler in New York.  In 1864 Keith moved to Philadelphia and entered the laboratory of Dr. Charles J. Essig.  Four years later Essig moved his laboratory to Baltimore, taking Keith with him.

Keith moved to St. Louis in 1871 and opened his own laboratory, working with many prominent dentists of the time.  He attended the Missouri Dental College and was graduated in 1873.  Keith joined the faculty of his alma mater, serving as demonstrator of Mechanical Dentistry (1875-76) and professor of Mechanical Dentistry (1876-79).  Best known for his plate work, Keith also had a large practice in operative dentistry.  Additionally Keith was highly regarded by his students and colleagues for his generosity in sharing his knowledge and expertise.  Until his death in 1899 Keith was active in both the Missouri State Dental Association and the St. Louis Dental Society.

John Hanger Kennerly (1856-1926)

John H. Kennerly, born in Virginia in 1856, began his study of dentistry with Dr. J. H. Yost in Shelbina, Missouri.  He took a course of lectures at the Missouri Dental College in St. Louis, receiving the degree of D.D.S. in 1888.

From 1894 to 1899 Kennerly was professor of Prosthetic Dentistry at the Marion-Sims Dental College.  He then joined the Dental Department of Washington University as professor of mechanical Dentistry and secretary of the faulty.  Upon the resignation of Dr. A. H. Fuller in 1901, Kennerly was elected his successor as dean and professor of Clinical Dentistry.  He served as dean until 1922.

Kennerly was active in the Missouri State Dental Association, serving as corresponding secretary (1902), first vice-president (1903), and president (1905).  He served as president of the St. Louis Dental Society (1897), the National Association of Dental Faculties (1906), and the Institute of Dental Pedagogics (1908).  Kennerly died in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1926.

Elias S. Khalifah (1904-1963)

Elias S. Khalifah was born in 1904 in Beirut, Lebanon and received his D.D.S. from the American University in Beirut in 1926.  Dr. Khalifah came to the United States in 1936 to study at the Northwestern University Dental School, where he received his M.S.D. in 1937.  In 1941 he joined the faculty of the Washington University School of Dentistry as associate professor of Dental History, which he taught for over twenty years.  Khalifah served as editor of the Washington University Dental Journal from 1945 to 1954 and as editor of the Journal of the Missouri State Dental Association from 1956 until his death from cancer in 1963.

Max Kornfeld (1903-1993)

Max Kornfeld, born in St. Louis in 1903, was at twenty years of age the youngest member of the Washington University School of Dentistry class of 1924.  He was given a special license by the Missouri Dental Board to practice dentistry until he reached the legal age.

From 1925 to 1934 Kornfeld was a member of the faculty of his alma mater, teaching metallurgy and comparative dental anatomy.  From 1936 to 1946 he was professor of dental prosthetics and head of the department of fixed partial dentures at the St. Louis University School of Dentistry.  Kornfeld was author of two editions of the dental textbook Mouth Rehabilitation.

Kornfeld was a fellow of both the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists.  He served as president of the St. Louis Dental Society in 1951 and of the Missouri Dental Association in 1957.  Kornfeld was honored by the Urban League of St. Louis in 1957 for his leadership while president of the St. Louis Dental Society in integrating its membership.  The Washington University School of Dental Medicine Alumni Association recognized Kornfeld as its 1989 Distinguished Alumnus.

Benno Edward Lischer (1876-1959)

Benno E. Lischer was born in Mascoutah, Illinois in 1876, the son of the first mayor of that town.  He received the degree of D.M.D. from the Dental Department of Washington University in 1900, and immediately joined the faculty of the school as instructor in Operative Technique and Dental Anatomy.  Lischer served as professor of Orthodontics from 1901 until 1924, when he resigned to concentrate on his private dental practice and to serve as non-resident lecturer in Orthodontics at the University of Michigan.

In 1929 Lischer and his family moved to San Francisco when he accepted a position as professor of Orthodontics at the University of California.  They returned to St. Louis in 1933 when the Washington University School of Dentistry offered Lischer the deanship of the school.  Lischer served as dean and professor of Orthodontia until his retirement in 1945.

Lischer authored two texts on orthodontia: Elements of Orthodontia (1909) and Principles and Methods of Orthodontics (1912).  He served as president of the St. Louis Dental Society (1908), the American Society of Orthodontists (1913), the St. Louis Society of Orthodontists (1928-29), the American Association of Dental Editors (1941), and the American Association of Dental Schools (1942).  Internationally known as an orthodontist, educator and writer, Dr. Lischer was the recipient of the highest award of the American Association of Orthodontists, the Albert H. Ketcham Memorial Award, in 1951.

Henry James Byron McKellops (1825-1901)

Henry James Byron McKellops was born near Syracuse, New York on August 31, 1825, and moved with his family to St. Louis in 1840.  After studying at the University of Missouri at Columbia from 1842 to 44, McKellops returned to St. Louis for a course in bookkeeping at the Jones Commercial College.  Jonathan Jones, the proprietor of the school, helped him to get a job in the office of the City Register.  There McKellops made a number of friends, many of whom later became his patients.  Among those friends was Dr. Charles A. Pope, the dean of the St. Louis Medical College, who influenced McKellops to study medicine.  Though he attended lectures at the St. Louis Medical College over the next eight years, he never received a medical degree.  Instead McKellops was persuaded by his brother-in-law to study dentistry.

McKellops’ natural ingenuity and love for mechanical arts fit well with the practice of dentistry.  He soon became an expert operator with gold as a filling material for teeth.  When “adhesive gold” was introduced McKellops quickly became an expert in its use.  In 1855 the Ohio College of Dentistry conferred the degree of D.D.S. on him in recognition of his skill and services to the dental profession.  To remain current with advances in the field of dentistry, McKellops had a standing order with his dental dealer to send him every new dental invention that appeared on the market.  He was a subscriber to every available dental periodical and to new dental books.  At the time of his death, McKellops owned what was believed to be the most extensive private dental library in the world.

McKellops was an ardent supporter of organized dentistry.  He helped organize both the Western Dental Association and the St. Louis Dental Society in 1856 and served as the president of the latter in 1879.  He was the first president of the Missouri State Dental Association, which he helped found in October 1865.  He was active in the Mississippi Valley Association of Dental Surgeons, and an honorary member of the Kansas, Iowa, and Illinois State Dental Societies.  In 1878 McKellops served as president of the American Dental Association and in 1884 as the president of the Southern Dental Association.

McKellops went to Europe in 1863 where he lectured before various dental societies (introducing the use of the mallet in dentistry in both London and Paris) and practiced dentistry in Paris.  After the end of the Civil war, McKellops returned to St. Louis where he practiced dentistry until his death in April 1901.

Upon McKellops’s death, brewery millionaire Adolphus Busch bought the McKellops dental library collection and donated it to Washington University. It was moved to the School of Dentistry in 1912, where it formed the core of the school’s fledgling library.  Upon the close of the Washington University School of Dental Medicine in 1991, the library was transferred to the Washington University School of Medicine’s Bernard Becker Medical Library.

Ruth E. Martin (1896-1976)

Ruth E. Martin, a 1923 graduate of the Washington University School of Dentistry, was a pioneer in the field of dentistry for children.  She joined the faculty of the University in 1927 as an instructor, and rose through the ranks in teaching to professor and then head of the Pedodontic Department.  In addition Dr. Martin was on the faculty of the Washington University School of Medicine, dentist in the Department of Pediatrics at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and on the consulting staffs of Barnes, Homer G. Phillips and City Hospitals.  Martin retired as professor emeritus of Pedodontics from the School of Dentistry and as assistant professor emeritus (Dentistry) from the School of Medicine in 1959.

Among her many honors, Dr. Martin was a charter member of the American Board of Pedodontics and of the American Academy of Pedodontics; one of the first women to be admitted to the American College of Dentists; president of the American Association of Women Dentists; and national treasurer of the American Society of Dentistry for Children.  In 1954 Martin was elected chairman of the St. Louis section of the American College of Dentists – at the time, Martin was the only woman member of the local section.

Henry Hodgen Mudd (1844-1899)

Henry Hodgen Mudd was born in Pittsfield, Illinois in 1844.  In 1856 his family moved to St. Louis, where Mudd attended public schools and then Washington University.  Mudd matriculated to the St. Louis Medical College and studied under his uncle Dr. John T. Hodgen; he received his medical degree in 1866.  After an internship at St. Louis City Hospital and two years of service as acting assistant surgeon in the Thirteenth United States Infantry, Hodgen began a medical practice with his uncle in 1869.

Mudd’s interests lay in anatomy and surgery and he soon began the demonstration and teaching of both.  Mudd joined the faculty of the St. Louis Medical College in 1872.  He became demonstrator of Anatomy there in 1874; the following year he was appointed to the same position at the affiliated Missouri Dental College.  In 1880 Mudd was given the rank of professor at both schools, serving over the years as professor of Anatomy, Clinical Surgery, and Surgical Anatomy.  The faculty of the Missouri Dental College selected Mudd as their dean in 1878, a position he held until his death in 1899.  Mudd simultaneously was dean of the St. Louis Medical College from 1896 until his death.

Mudd’s ties to Washington University and the subsequent election of the University’s chancellor, William Greenleaf Eliot, to the Missouri Dental College board of trustees helped lead to the affiliation of the dental school with the University in 1892.  Mudd, though not a dentist, was recognized by his colleagues after his death as “a man of marked executive ability, possessed of great firmness and uprightness of character who commanded the respect and esteem of the entire Dental Profession.”

W. Neal Newton (b. 1927)

W. Neal Newton was born in Iowa in 1927 and is a 1951 graduate of the Washington University School of Dentistry.  After his graduation Newton joined the faculty in the Department of Dental Pediatrics, where he served for almost twenty years.  Newton served as an Army dental officer during the Korean War.

Dr. Newton is a fellow of the American College of Dentists, the International College of Dentists and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.  He served six-year terms on the St. Louis County Community Health and Medical Care Advisory Board and the St. Louis County Health Commission.  He also served a six-year term on the Advisory Board on Indian Health of the federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

Newton served as president for several dental organizations, including the Missouri Dental Association and the U.S.A. section of the International College of Dentists.  In 1983 Newton was honored as Distinguished Alumnus by the Washington University School of Dental Medicine Alumni Association.

L. Woodrow O’Brien (1913-1992)

A native of St. Louis born in 1913, Lane Woodrow (“Woody”) O’Brien received his D.D.S. degree from the Washington University School of Dentistry in 1935.  After his graduation, O’Brien served an internship with the U. S. Public Health Service and in 1938 joined the faculty of his alma mater.  During World War II he served with the 21st General Hospital in Europe and was awarded the Bronze Star.

Dr. O’Brien returned to St. Louis after the war and resumed his dental practice and teaching at the Washington University School of Dentistry, where he served as professor of maxillofacial prosthodontics and cleft palate dentistry.  He became a nationally recognized clinician and researcher in the treatment of facial birth defects and oral cancer rehabilitation.  He established the Lasky Cleft Palate and Oral Cancer Rehabilitation Center at the dental school in 1966, serving as its director until his retirement in 1978.  Dr. O’Brien went on to direct the Cleft Palate Group at St. Luke’s Hospital.

Henry E. Peebles (1812-1871)

Henry E. Peebles, born in Virginia in 1812, began his practice of medicine in Rushville, Ohio, after studying with a local doctor.  An itinerant dentist interested him in dentistry, so Peebles began the study and practice of dentistry as well.  In 1842 Peebles moved his family to Lexington, Missouri, where he practiced for fourteen years.  He then moved to St. Louis and quickly became a leading dentist in the city.  Peebles was a charter member of the St. Louis Dental Society, founded in December 1856, and its president in 1859-60.

Peebles is credited as being the founder of the Missouri State Dental Association in 1865, having started corresponding with dentists throughout the state the previous year lobbying for the creation of a state organization and inviting their participation.  Peebles served as the second president of the statewide group.  He was also influential in the organization of the Missouri Dental College in 1866, serving as its first professor of Surgical and Operative Dentistry, and in the establishment of the Missouri Dental Journal in 1869.

In 1850 both the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery and the Ohio College of Dental Surgery conferred upon Peebles the honorary degree of D.D.S.  Peebles was an active member of the Mississippi Valley Society of Dental Surgeons, the Western Dental Society, and the Southern Dental Association.  He died in February 1871 of erysipelas and typhoid fever.

Charles William Rivers (1828-1877)

Charles William Rivers graduated with the first class of the Missouri Dental College in 1867, though he had begun studying and practicing dentistry earlier in both St. Louis and Pittsfield, Illinois.  Rivers joined the Missouri State Dental Association in 1866 and the Illinois State Dental Society in 1868.

He was a member of the first Board of Trustees of the Missouri Dental College, serving from 1866 until 1875.  He also served as the dean of the faculty and professor of Operative Dentistry during the school’s 1874-75 session.  In 1874 Rivers was elected president of the Missouri State Dental Association and the St. Louis Dental Society.  Rivers died of tuberculosis in 1877 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Harold L. Rosenthal (1922-2002)

Harold Rosenthal, born in New Jersey in 1922, earned his bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from the University of New Mexico in 1943 and his Ph.D. in biochemistry and physiology from Rutgers University in 1951.  He taught at Tulane University, the Oak Ridge Institute for Nuclear Studies, and the Rochester General Hospital prior to moving to St. Louis in 1958 to serve as chairman of the Department of Physiological Chemistry at Washington University and its School of Dentistry.

Rosenthal is best known for his role in the analysis of baby teeth collected during the St. Louis Baby Tooth Survey (1958-1970).  That research showed that strontium-90 levels in baby teeth rose and fell over the years in correlation with atomic bomb testing.

Rosenthal retired as professor emeritus of Biomedical Science in 1987.  He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Society of American Biochemists, the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Biological Science, the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, and the American Institute of Nutrition.

George D. Selfridge (b. 1924)

George T. Selfridge received his D.D.S. degree from the University of Buffalo School of Dentistry in 1947; he also holds a master’s degree in higher education from George Washington University.  He joined the Navy the following year, taking his dental internship at the national Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, and the U.S. Naval Hospital, St. Albans, N. Y.  He served a residency in oral surgery at the U.S. Naval Hospital, Jacksonville, Florida.

From 1969 to 1972 Selfridge was chairman of the Educational Resources Department and assistant director of Graduate Programs at the Naval Graduate Dental School, Bethesda, Maryland.  He then served a year as deputy director of the naval Dental Clinic in Norfolk, Virginia.  From 1973 until 1976 Selfridge served as commanding officer at the Naval Graduate Dental School, a position comparable to dean of graduate studies at a university.

In 1976 Selfridge retired from the Navy as a Rear Admiral to accept the deanship of the Washington University School of Dental Medicine, a position he held for ten years.  While at Washington University, Selfridge also acted as chief of Dentistry at Barnes and St. Louis Children’s Hospitals.  After leaving Washington University, Selfridge served as executive director of the American Board of Orthodontics from 1987 to 1997, retiring as executive director emeritus.  In 2006 Selfridge was honored by that organization with its Earl E. and Wilma S. Shepard Award of Distinction.

Earl E. Shepard (1908-1991)

Earl E. Shepard was born in Marine, Illinois in 1908.  After his 1931 graduation from the Washington University School of Dentistry he opened a general dentistry practice in Edwardsville, Illinois, joined the faculty of his alma mater and the staffs of Barnes and St. Luke’s Hospitals.  In 1938 Shepard began specializing in orthodontics and moved his practice to the St. Louis area.

Shepard was professor and chair of the Department of Orthodontics from 1953 to 1975, after which he served as professor emeritus and lecturer.  In 1964 he received both the School’s and the University’s Distinguished Faculty Awards.  The American Association of Orthodontics honored Shepard with its Albert H. Ketcham Award in 1979 and its Distinguished Service Award in 1983.  In 1982 Shepard was honored by the Missouri Dental Association for fifty years or more of service to the field of dental health.

Active in both local and national professional organizations, Shepard was a diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics and a fellow of the American and International Colleges of Dentists.  From 1977 to 1987 Shepard served as executive director of the American Board of Orthodontics.  He served as secretary, treasurer and president of the Midwestern Society of Orthodontists, and since 1987 the group has bestowed the Earl E. Shepard Distinguished Service Award to one of its member who exemplifies the ideals of the orthodontic profession, community and family.  Shepard retired from his private practice in the mid-1980s; he died on May 18, 1991.

Clarence O. Simpson (1879-1962)

Simpson graduated from the Chicago College of Dental Surgery and from Barnes Medical College (St. Louis).  He was in the general practice of dentistry from 1902 to 1918, at which time he limited his practice to radiodontics and oral diagnosis.  At Barnes Dental College he was professor of dental anatomy, histology and operative dentistry from 1903 to 1910.  From 1926 to 1936 and from 1945 to 1951 Simpson was professor and chairman of Radiodontics at the Washington University School of Dentistry.  He served as professor emeritus from 1951 until his death in 1962.

Simpson served as president of the St. Louis Society of Dental Science in 1910, the St. Louis Dental Society in 1918, and the Missouri State Dental Association in 1923.  He authored several dental texts, including Advanced Radiodontic Interpretation (1923), The Technic of Oral Radiography (1926), and Principles and Practice of Radiodontics (1936).

Richard Jay Smith (b. 1948)

Richard Jay Smith earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Brooklyn College in 1969 and his M.S. in Anatomy and his D.M.D. from Tufts University in 1973.  Smith received a master of philosophy in 1978 and a doctorate in 1980, both in Anthropology from Yale University.  He joined the faculty of the Washington University School of Dental Medicine in 1984 as professor and chairman of the Department of Orthodontics, having previously taught at University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine, the University of Maryland Dental School, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Smith was appointed dean of the School of Dental Medicine in 1989, serving as its last dean and overseeing the school’s closure in 1991.  Smith was then appointed professor of anthropology at Washington University, becoming chair of that department in 1993.  In 2001 Smith was named the Ralph E. Morrow Distinguished University Professor in Arts and Sciences.

Harriett L. Steuernagel (1907-1997)

A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Harriett Steuernagel received a bachelor’s degree in English from Washington University in 1932.  She received her library science degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1937.  In her early years, Steuernagel pursued a career in ballet and danced at the St. Louis Municipal Opera; she was also one of the original Rockettes, which were based in St. Louis before moving to New York.

Steuernagel joined the staff of the Washington University School of Dentistry in 1946, heading the library until her retirement in 1981.  In 1988 the dental school’s library was renamed the Harriett L. Steuernagel Library.  Throughout her career Steuernagel held many committee appointments and offices in the Special Libraries Association, the Medical Library Association, and the American Association of Dental Schools.  She headed the AADS committee on Standards for Dental School Libraries from 1967 to 1969.  After her retirement, she served as a consultant in Dental Education and coordinated the steering committee of the dental school’s accreditation report.  Steuernagel developed and directed the dental school’s career counseling program from 1983 to 1986 as a full-time volunteer.  From 1986 until her death, she volunteered in the Technical Services and Archives and Rare Books sections of the Bernard Becker Medical Library.

Cornelia M. Thompson (1899-1980)

Cornelia M. Thompson was born in 1899 into a family of dentists.  Her father Peter Holmes Morrison graduated from the Missouri Dental College in 1890; her grandfather, William Newton Morrison is credited with the introduction of the gold crown in 1869.  Cornelia Thompson was the sole woman to graduate in the Washington University School of Dentistry’s class of 1922.

She holds the distinction of being the first woman graduate of the Washington University School of Dentistry to complete the four-year curriculum; the first woman pedodontist in the St. Louis area, the first pedodontist in the St. Louis area to fill primary teeth, and only the third woman to be accepted as a fellow of the American College of Dentists.

Thompson directed the Dental Health Division of the St. Louis County Department of Health from 1963 until her retirement in 1971.  During her career, Thompson served as president of the American Association of Women Dentists, the Missouri Unit of the American Society of Dentistry for Children, and the West District Greater St. Louis Dental Society.

Russell C. Wheeler (1897-1976)

Russell C. Wheeler, a 1919 graduate of the Washington University School of Dentistry, practiced dentistry in St. Louis for over fifty years and was a noted pioneer in the field of restorative dentistry.  He was a member of the faculty of his alma mater from 1922 to 1937 and again from 1945 to 1951, rising to the rank of associate professor of Oral Anatomy.  From 1937 to 1944 Wheeler served as associate professor and chairman of the department of Dental Anatomy at the St. Louis University School of Dentistry.

Wheeler served as president of the St. Louis Society of Dental Science in 1937 and as president of the St. Louis Dental Society in 1946.  Most notably, Wheeler authored two dental textbooks, Atlas of Tooth Form (1939) and Dental Anatomy and Physiology (1940), which were at the time they were published required or recommended texts in almost every dental school in the United States and Canada.  The 8th edition of the latter text, now known as Wheeler’s Dental Anatomy, Physiology and Occlusion, was published in 2003.

Jesse Duncan White (1873-1941)

Jesse Duncan White was born in Raymond, Illinois in 1873.  His education in dentistry began at the Indiana Dental College in 1892.  After a year at that school he transferred to the Missouri Dental College in St. Louis, where he completed one year.  White then spent six years in private practice in Illiopolis, Illinois, returning to St. Louis in 1900 to finish his formal dental education at the Missouri Dental College, which by then had become the Dental Department of Washington University.  He graduated in 1901 receiving the degree of D.M.D.  In 1904, after a few years of private practice, White returned to his alma mater where he served for thirty-two years as an instructor, professor and acting-dean (1932-33).

White served as president of the St. Louis Dental Society in 1912 and as president of the Missouri State Dental Association in 1916.  In 1908 White became active in the Prosthetic Section of the American Dental Association, giving frequent lectures and clinics.  He was a charter member of Omicron Kappa Upsilon Fraternity and of the American College of Dentists.  White retired from the University in 1936; he died in 1941.