BILL, ARTHUR HOLBROOK (10 Nov. 1877-11 Mar. 1961), was an innovator in hospital obstetrics and helped establish Cleveland's reputation for low maternal mortality. Born in Cleveland to Herbert Weston and May McIlewain Bill, he received his B.A. from Adelbert College (1897), his M.A. from Western Reserve University (1898), and his M.D. from WRU Medical School (1901). Bill interned at Lakeside Hospital; at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1902; at Vassar Hospital in 1903; and at New York Lying-in Hospital in 1904, specializing in obstetrics. In 1905, he studied in Berlin, Vienna, and Paris, returning to WRU in 1906 as an assistant in obstetrics, becoming demonstrator in 1907, instructor in 1908, and associate professor and head of the department in 1909. In 1906, Bill became associated with Maternity Hospital and began an outpatient clinic in his home. In 1911, when Bill became chief of staff, he moved Maternity and helped affiliated it with WRU. In the early 1920s, he campaigned for a larger and better hospital, which climaxed with the development of the University Hospitals complex and the opening of the new Maternity Hospital on 30 Nov. 1925. Bill structured the obstetrics training program at WRU so that students did not simply witness confinements, but helped deliver as many as 40 babies and attend innumerable labors. By his retirement in 1948, Bill had trained over 2,000 obstetricians-gynecologists and had developed techniques to relieve childbirth pains. Bill was survived by his wife, Gladys Buttermore Bill whom he married in 1923. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Cuyahoga Falls.
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