LOWER, WILLIAM EDGAR (6 May 1867-17 June 1948), a founder of the CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION and pioneer in genito-urinary surgery, was born in Canton, Ohio to Henry and Mary (Deeds) Lower. He received his medical degree from Wooster University Medical School in 1891 and entered medical practice with his cousin, GEO. W. CRILE, SR., and FRANK E. BUNTS. He was on the staffs of ST. ALEXIS HOSPITAL and Lakeside Hospital, and was chief of surgery at both Lutheran General (1914-38) and Mt. Sinai hospitals (1916-24). He served during the SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR and became commanding officer (1918) of the famed LAKESIDE UNIT during WORLD WAR I. In 1921, Lower joined Crile, Bunts, and JOHN PHILLIPS in establishing the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, patterned after the group medical practice model of the Mayo brothers in Rochester, Minn. Lower was president of the American Urological Assoc. and a member of numerous prestigious and specialized medical societies in the U.S. He wrote 2 books in collaboration with Crile and numerous papers on genito-urinary surgery. Lower married Mabel Freeman in Sept. 1910; they had 1 daughter, Mary. He died in Cleveland and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Bunts, Alexander T., and Crile, George W., Jr., eds. To Act as a Unit (1971).