Special article

A biography of Robert Milton Zollinger, M.D.

Laura Lewis, Barbara Van Brimmer*Curator, Medical Heritage Center, Prior Health Sciences Library, 376 West 10th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210, USA

Manuscript received April 30, 2003

Abstract

A Zollinger archivist at the Medical Heritage Center of Ohio State University provides an overview of the life of Dr. Robert M. Zollinger.© 2003 Excerpta Medica, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Zollinger

Robert Milton Zollinger, M.D., was one of the giants ofAmerican surgery. With a career that spanned much of the20th century, Dr. Zollinger was respected by his peers,feared by his students, and loved by his patients. Zollingerhad a knack for being successful at whatever he did. He wasthe president of almost every society he belonged to, in-cluding the American Board of Surgery, the American Sur-gical Association, the American College of Surgeons, andeven the American Rose Society.

Born September 4, 1903, Zollinger was raised on hisfamily’s farm in Millersport, Ohio. He attended gradeschool in a one-room schoolhouse a mile from his home.For high school, he had to travel 3 miles into town, so herode his pony, Bob, and stabled him at the barber’s duringclasses. Zollinger was industrious, even at an early age.Utilizing his pony and a cart, he developed a thriving busi-ness delivering milk and vegetables from the farm to hisneighbors. This was considered his job, and he had to tallyhis receipts each night after supper with his parents. Besidesrunning his business, he also found time to letter in basket-ball while in high school. Zollinger learned all of the playsduring lunch, since his delivery route and farm chores kepthim from staying after school to practice. As a young man,Zollinger wanted to attend West Point. That dream fadedwhen he decided to become a surgeon, even though he hatedthe sight of blood. When he told his parents his plans, hisfather gave him one piece of advice: “If you’re going to bea doctor, be a good one.” His parents always expressed anabsolute confidence that he and his brother Richard would

be successful at anything they attempted, and they instilledthis belief in their sons. This was a trait that Zollingercarried into his adult life: always expecting the best fromeveryone and feeling keenly disappointed when he did notget it.

Showing early on that he was not afraid to do thingsdifferently, Zollinger was the first person from his highschool to attend college. He graduated from Ohio StateUniversity in 1925 with his B.A. degree and earned hisM.D. degree 2 years later. After graduation, he was offeredan internship at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston,under the tutelage of the surgical master Harvey Cushing.Cushing sent Zollinger to Western Reserve in Cleveland for6 months before he began his internship to work with one ofCushing’s favorite pupils, Elliott C. Cutler. Their associa-tion would span the next 20 years, and Cutler would becomeone of the great influences in Zollinger’s life. At WesternReserve, Zollinger worked in the dog labs as a voluntaryassistant. His main job was to classifying Cutler’s collectionof brain tumors. This work led to his first publication, anarticle in the April 1929 issue ofThe Ohio State MedicalJournal.

Zollinger returned to PBBH in 1928 to begin his intern-ship. There he was regarded as a country boy from that“cow town” Columbus. He was determined to know theanswer to every question in order to prove that his educationwas every bit as good as that of his Ivy League peers. Thisendeavor proved time-consuming but provided Zollingerwith a strong core knowledge of his subject matter. Whenhis internship was over, Zollinger renewed his associationwith Cutler by returning to Western Reserve in 1929 for hisresidency. That same year, he finally married Louise

* Corresponding author. Tel.:�1-614-292-4891.E-mail address: vanbrimmer.2@osu.edu

The American Journal of Surgery 186 (2003) 205–207

0002-9610/03/$ – see front matter © 2003 Excerpta Medica, Inc. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/S0002-9610(03)00224-1

Kiewet; while he had been at PBBH, interns were forbiddento marry. Louise supported the couple in their early days ofmarriage by teaching, since Zollinger was making only $50a week as a resident.

Doctor Cutler returned to PBBH to take over for Cushingas the Moseley Professor of Surgery in 1932. Zollinger wentwith him as his chief resident and by 1939 was an assistantprofessor of surgery. During their time together at Harvardand PBBH, Zollinger and Cutler would publish the first ofseven editions of the now famous Atlas of Surgical Oper-ations. Zollinger did much of the work on the text, butCutler’s name appeared first on the cover. When Zollingerasked him whose name should be first, Cutler had respondedthat they should be listed alphabetically.

Zollinger joined the army in 1941, when war seemedimminent for the United States. In so doing, he gave up athriving practice and four years with his family (Fig. 1). Hefelt that if he joined the Harvard Unit, so would many of hisyounger colleagues. Zollinger hoped to be commissioned asa colonel and the commanding officer of the unit. Instead,he was made a major and the assistant chief of the surgicalservice. Immediately upon reaching camp in Ireland, hecalled upon his early farm experience and began planting agarden. He had gathered money from everyone in the unitand purchased seeds before they had left the United States.Because of this foresight, he was soon appointed the PostBeautification Officer, a job which allowed him to nurture

another of his passions, roses. Over the next 4 years,Zollinger would rise to the rank of colonel and the com-mand of the Fifth General Hospital. He would also earn theLegion of Merit Award for the development of mobilesurgical teams and Battle Stars for Normandy, NorthernFrance, and the Rhineland.

Zollinger returned to Harvard in 1946 and was soonoffered a position as professor of surgery at Ohio StateUniversity. Within a year, he became chairman of the De-partment of Surgery at his alma mater, beginning a nearly30-year reign (Fig. 2). In 1955, working with Edwin Ellison,he discovered the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, which dealtwith the relationship between non-beta islet cell tumors ofthe pancreas and diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Healso created the medical illustration division as a part of theDepartment of Surgery. This was surely influenced by theneed for new illustrations for each subsequent edition of theAtlas of Surgical Operations. Despite his busy schedule,Zollinger was editor-in-chief of the American Journal ofSurgery from 1958 to 1986. He traveled the country lectur-ing on Zollinger-Ellison syndrome and received numerousawards for his efforts. He was the recipient of honorarydegrees from the University of Lyon, France (1965) andheld honorary fellowships in the Royal College of Surgeonsof England (1965) and the Royal College of Surgeons of

Fig. 1. Doctor Zollinger and his family, 1940s.

Fig. 2. Doctor Zollinger in surgery, 1961.

206 L. Lewis / The American Journal of Surgery 186 (2003) 205–207

Edinburgh (1966). The American Medical Association be-stowed its highest honor, the Sheen Award, upon him,recognizing him as the Outstanding Doctor of Medical Sci-ence in the United States for 1977. Zollinger was evenoffered the presidency of The Ohio State University butturned it down. He felt that he would not have any time leftfor surgery. Besides, he reasoned, “There are a lot moreout-of-work college presidents than surgeons.” Zollingerwas a difficult taskmaster who expected nothing less thanperfection from himself and his colleagues. On rounds hewas known to fire a resident on the elevator for somemisdemeanor, only to rehire him by the time they hadreached the seventh floor. As hard as he was on his students,he was equally kind to his patients. He believed that theyshould always be the top priority of a surgeon. When he feltthat his staff was moving away from that principle, he oftenfelt the need to remind them. He once had a large chartmade showing the golf handicaps of each surgery depart-ment member, clearly showing where he felt that theirpriorities lie.

Outside of surgery, Zollinger was a man of many inter-ests. He raised prize-winning gourds. He loved roses andwas an accredited rose judge. He constantly grumbled that

his frequent lecturing and travel kept his roses from winningfirst prize. He also developed a passion for photography,which he indulged every winter on Sanibel Island. Despitehis numerous honors and international recognition, Dr.Zollinger never rested on his laurels. Even after his retire-ment in 1974, Zollinger continued to lecture around theworld. He remained involved in the Department of Surgeryas professor and chairman emeritus. His quest for excel-lence continued until his death in 1992 from pancreaticcancer. Perhaps he is best described in his own words. Once,when asked how he would like to be remembered, he re-plied, “They should write on my tombstone: ‘Teacher, sur-geon, soldier, and farmer.’ And my wife may remember thatshe says I’m an amusing fellow to live with.”

Acknowledgment

The information in this article is based on research at theMedical Heritage Center, Prior Health Sciences Library,Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. Photographs arefrom the collections of the Medical Heritage Center. Workon this article was supported by the Zollinger Legacy Fund.

207L. Lewis / The American Journal of Surgery 186 (2003) 205–207