Edward Lorenzo Holmes, M.D.
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Name: Edward Lorenzo Holmes
Death date: Feb 11, 1900
Place of death: Chicago, IL
Type of practice: Allopath
Journal of the American Medical Association Citation: 34:445
Dr. Edward Lorenzo Holmes, who for thirty-five years was a member of this Society, died of pneumonia in Chicago, February 12, 1900, at the age of 72 years. Dr. Holmes was born January 28, 1828, at Dedham, Mass., was graduated from Harvard College at the age of 21, and then taught in the Latin School of Roxbury, Mass. He graduated from the medical department of Harvard in 1854, after which he served as interne in the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. He spent one year at the University of Vienna, and then went to Chicago, where he entered into the practice of ophthalmology and otology. He at once became associated, in that city, with the pioneers of the medical profession and took an active interest in the advancement of its institutions and the promotion of its principles. To the movement begun by him in 1858 the Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary owes its foundation. He was deeply interested in its welfare and until his resignation very recently was at the head of its medical and surgical staff. He aided actively in the foundation of the Presbyterian Hospital in 1883, and was for a considerable time one of the attending surgeons for the treatment of diseases of the eye and ear.
In 1860, Dr. Holmes became lecturer on Ophthalmology and Otology in Rush Medical College, and was elected to a full professorship in 1867. In 1890 he succeeded Dr. J. Adams Allen as President of the College, a position which he held until his 70th birthday, Jan. 28, 1898, when he resigned from the faculty.
He was also a trustee of Lake Forest University, director in the Central Free Dispensary, Chicago, and a member of a number of medical societies of Chicago and of this country.
He was almost the pioneer of ophthalmology in the west, and did much by his sound practice and teaching to promote its truths. While not a prolific writer, he was a thoughtful one, whose influence was wider than that of many who write much. As a practitioner he was exceptionally proficient and skillful, and this together with his warm sympathy made him highly respected and greatly beloved, not only by his patients, but by all with whom he was associated.
