John T. Bird, Jr.
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.