William Edward Laupus was born on May 25, 1921 in Seymour, Indiana. After high school, he attended Yale University, graduating with a B.S. degree in 1943 followed by a M.D. in 1945. He completed a pediatric internship at the New York Hospital at Cornell in 1946. From 1946-1948, Laupus served in the U.S. Army, providing medical care at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Marion, Indiana, where he met his wife, Evelyn Fike, before returning to complete his residency at Cornell. They had four children: Patricia, J. Richard, Laura, and William, Jr.
He was appointed Chief Resident in 1950 and then performed the duties of the staff neonatologist until moving to Detroit, Michigan in 1952 to enter private practice as a pediatrician. From 1955-1959, he was the Chief of Pediatrics at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn, Michigan. In 1960, Laupus accepted the position of Director of Pediatric Cardiology at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta where he remained until 1963. From 1963-1975, Laupus taught and served as Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond.
In 1975, Laupus was selected as the inaugural dean of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. In 1983, he was appointed one of five Vice Chancellors for East Carolina. In 1987, he was designated as Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences, a position he held until his retirement in 1989. That same year, he was recognized as the recipient of the O. Max Gardner Award, the highest honor given by the University of North Carolina’s Board of Governors.
In 1993, the East Carolina Board of Trustees named the medical library in the Brody Building as the Laupus Health Science Library. That name was transferred to the upgraded library housed in the new Health Sciences Building. Laupus passed away on February 15, 2005 after an extended illness.
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Citation Information
Title: William Edward Laupus
Author: John A. Tucker, PhD
Date of Publication: 6/25/2019