Seeing the picture of the then Group-Captain G. Edward Hall in the Western News (The Way We Were 1941, Jan. 31) reminded me of my early days at Western and what I, and this university, owe to the vision of that man.
When he came on deck as Dean of Medicine early in the 1944-45 school year, Hall faced five major departments depleted by war with heads of, or nearing, retirement age. Extracted out of the army in September 1945 to teach bacteriology and immunology, I was his third of five appointments. As such, I saw Ed Hall at work transforming a faculty.
Within two years, Hall had all departments with strong research abilities at their head and an associate of considerable ability. He had everyone, from top to bottom, doing their level best to make a success of the venture; there were few, if any, objectors.
Subsequent history confirmed the value of his choices. Within three years, he was appointed president of the university in 1948. He left the medical school, having persuaded J. B. Collip, an internationally distinguished biochemist, to be the dean. This remarkable appointment opened up the future for medicine at Western.
In the archives, there is a letter written when the Board of Governors was trying to get Hall as a dean, in which he outlined the need for medicine to be on the campus together with a dental school and a juxtaposed teaching hospital, as well mentioning more faculties.
I have no idea how he managed to get the funding needed for all that he did, but he managed. He had some willing helpers, especially Ross Willis (comptroller) and “sharp pencil” Bob Glover (accountant) as well as A.T. Little and the board. Hall took a personal interest in seeing the best-possible choices made in appointments and that included seeking strong abilities in research. For a few years, he maintained a breadth of involvement, as I experienced as a head of a department from 1949, by coming by to discuss each departmental budget and its plans.
In little more than a decade, he founded the faculties of Law, Engineering and Education as well as established various disciplines as departments.
Thanks to Hall, the university was set to flourish. Long may it do so, as indeed it might if a similar degree of attention is paid to quality appointments and planning.
For those who do not know of it, there is a head-and-shoulders bas-relief and appreciation of Hall in the front hall of the Medical Sciences Building. It is a shame there is not a substantial memorial to him in some prominent place on the campus.
Robert G. E. Murray
Department of Microbiology and Immunology