[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13865-13866]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



     TRIBUTE TO DR. MIDDLETON H. LAMBRIGHT, JR., OF CLEVELAND, OHIO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, on Monday, June 14, 1999, the 
Eleventh Congressional District and the Nation lost a medical pioneer 
and giant, Dr. Middleton H. Lambright, Jr., who was born in 1908, at 
the dawn of the 20th century, in Kansas City, Missouri. His father, 
Middleton Sr., was not only a medical doctor, but was a man of vision 
and hope for his children. Seeking greater opportunities for his son 
and daughter, Dr. Lambright moved to Cleveland, Ohio, at the end of 
World War I, when Middleton H. Lambright, Jr., was 12 years old.
  Young Middleton was also interested in medicine. From the time he was 
very small his father had permitted him to ride with him when he made 
house calls, visit the hospital and spend time in his office browsing 
through medical literature. Very early in his life, Middleton was given 
the opportunity to understand the meaning of success, duty, and 
commitment. His father was his example of an educated, successful black 
man fulfilling his dream of giving service to others through his 
medical practice.
  The son wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. Middie, as he was 
nicknamed, graduated from Glenville High School of the Cleveland Public 
Schools. He attend two prestigious historically black universities, 
Morehouse College and Lincoln University, before completing 
requirements at the Western Reserve University.
  In 1934, he entered Meharry Medical College. During his 4 years 
there, he became interested in the field of surgery and whenever 
possible spent time in the emergency traumatic service, on the wards, 
and in operating rooms. He was privileged to have professors and 
lifetime friends, several famous surgeons: Dr. John Hale, Matthew 
Walker, and Joseph L.B. Forrester.
  After graduating in 1938, he sought and was successful in an effort 
to receive an internship at Cleveland City Hospital. Following his 
surgical residency, he was appointed assistant clinical professor of 
surgery in the Department of Medicine at Western Reserve School of 
Medicine. This position entitled him to hospital privileges at 
University Hospitals and Mt. Sinai Hospital.
  He became the first black physician to receive a full staff 
appointment in any hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. He continued to fill 
his dreams by moving into the office with his father where he built a 
general and thoracic surgical practice while continuing as a visiting 
surgeon at University Hospitals. In ensuing years, he became involved 
in numerous activities, was elected President of the American Academy 
of Medicine in Cleveland in 1964. He became only the second African-
American to head a local affiliate of the American Medical Association. 
He also worked with his father to found Forest City Hospital which 
enabled other African-American doctors to head up medical departments 
throughout the hospital.
  He believed in taking chances and seeking new opportunities. In 1971, 
he was offered and accepted a position as Dean and Associate Professor 
of Surgery in the College of Medicine at the Medical University of 
South Carolina. He was quoted as saying: My father would have been 
extremely pleased to know that his son had been invited to join the 
staff and faculty of an institution he could not have hoped to enter in 
any capacity. He was speaking to the racial segregation in the State of 
South Carolina.
  After more than 25 years of practice, Dr. Lambright returned to 
Cleveland and entered his third career as the vice president of medical 
affairs for Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Here was a man who had a dream 
and who had his materialized and then had been granted the opportunity 
to expand the use of his success in many avenues. He believed that a 
man so blessed had a duty to his fellow man.
  Dr. Lambright might well have been guided by the words of Thomas 
Paine: The duty of man is plain and simple and consists of but two 
points, his duty to God, which every man must fill, and with respect to 
his neighbor, to do as he would be done by.
  His list of medical staff appointments would equal the list of 
several

[[Page 13866]]

physicians combined, and included there is appointments to numerous 
hospitals in the city of Cleveland. He shared his knowledge and 
experience with young students eager to join his honored profession, 
serving as an instructor and clinical assistant professor at Case 
Western Reserve.
  Involved in numerous community activities, he was a trustee, grand 
jury foreman, a trustee of the American Red Cross. Here indeed was a 
man who dared to dream, who lived his dreams, and shared his vision. 
Anthropologist Margaret Mead ``measured success in terms of the 
contributions that an individual makes to his or her human beings.'' 
Booker T. Washington said ``success is to be measured not so much by 
the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he 
has overcome while trying to succeed.'' By either measure, Dr. 
Middleton H. Lambright, Jr., was a successful man.
  On behalf of the citizens of the Eleventh Congressional District of 
Ohio, I express gratitude to this outstanding citizen of Ohio for his 
life and service and extend my condolences to his family and friends.

                 [From the Plain Dealer, June 19, 1999]

           Dr. Middleton Lambright, Overcame Racial Barriers

                         (By Richard M. Peery)

       EUCLID--Dr. Middleton H. ``Middie'' Lambright Jr. was a 
     pioneer who broke barriers of racial discrimination 
     throughout his career.
       He was the first black doctor to attain full hospital 
     privileges in Cleveland when he was admitted to the staffs of 
     University and Mt. Sinai hospitals.
       He worked with his father to found Forest City Hospital, 
     enabling black doctors to head medical departments.
       He was the second in the nation to head a local affiliate 
     of the American Medical Association when he became president 
     of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine in 1964.
       When he left Cleveland in 1972 to become assistant dean of 
     the Medical College of South Carolina, he was welcomed to the 
     state by Sen. Strom Thurmond, who had been one of the leading 
     defenders of racial segregation in the nation.
       Dr. Lambright returned to Cleveland in 1984 to serve as a 
     vice president of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Ohio. He 
     retired four years later.
       Dr. Lambright died Monday at his home in Euclid. He was 90.
       He was born in Kansas City, Mo. When he was 12, his father 
     moved the family to Cleveland so his children would not be 
     subjected to segregated education. Dr. Lambright graduated 
     from Glenville High School.
       He attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, but his 
     graduation was delayed while he recovered from tuberculosis. 
     He eventually received a degree from Western Reserve 
     University in 1934. He decided to specialize in surgery while 
     he was a student at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, 
     Tenn., where he graduated in 1938.
       Dr. Lambright completed his internship at City Hospital, 
     now MetroHealth Medical Center, and was serving a surgical 
     residency there when World War II broke out. Although fellow 
     residents joined the Lakeside Medical Unit that served under 
     Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Pacific, Dr. Lambright was not 
     allowed to go with them because of the racial segregation in 
     the military. Because the Army's only black medical training 
     unit was full, he remained at City Hospital throughout the 
     war.
       Dr. Lambright became an assistant professor of surgery at 
     Case Western Reserve University and chief of surgery at 
     Forest City Hospital. He was medical adviser for The Plain 
     Dealer Golden Gloves tournaments and medical director for the 
     Cleveland Boxing and Wrestling Commission.
       In addition to his memberships in numerous professional 
     organizations, Dr. Lambright found time for civic activities. 
     He served on the original trustee board for Cleveland State 
     University. He was also a trustee of several local 
     organizations, including the Automobile Association, Growth 
     Association, United Appeal, American Cancer Society, Red 
     Cross, Welfare Federation, Urban League, Cedar YMCA and 
     Barons Hockey Club.
       He was appointed Cuyahoga County grand jury foreman in 
     1965.
       After he returned to Cleveland from South Carolina, he was 
     a trustee of the Cleveland Scholarship Program
       He was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society 
     and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
       Dr. Lambright is survived by his wife, Willie Callaham 
     Lambright of Greensboro, N.C.; a sister, Elizabeth B. of 
     Euclid; and a granddaughter, Lodi of Providence, R.I.
       Services will be a 11 a.m. June 26 at the Mausoleum of Lake 
     View Cemetery, 12316 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.
       Arrangements are by the E.F. Boyd & Son Funeral Home of 
     Cleveland.
       Memorial donations may be made to the CWRU/Forest City 
     Hospital Endowment Fund, Bolton School of Nursing, 10900 
     Euclid Ave., Cleveland 44106-4904; or to Meharry Medical 
     College, Division of Institutional Advancement, 1005 D.B. 
     Blvd., Nashville, Tenn. 37208.

     

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