Malford W. Thewlis Explained

Malford W. Thewlis
Birth Date:October 11, 1863
Birth Place:Wakefield, Rhode Island
Death Place:Rhode Island, United States
Alma Mater:Bowdoin Medical School of Maine
Occupation:physician

Malford Wilcox Thewlis (December 4, 1889 – June 3, 1956) was an American physician and pioneer of gerontology, who co-founded the American Geriatrics Society in 1942.[1] He is commemorated by the annual Thewlis Lecture on Gerontology and Geriatrics, established at the University of Rhode Island.[2] As a neuropsychiatrist, he attended US President Woodrow Wilson, following a stroke in 1919.[3]

Thewlis was born on December 4, 1889, in Wakefield, Rhode Island, the son of James E. Thewlis and Viola (née Wilcox),[4] and received his MD from the Bowdoin Medical School of Maine in 1911.[5] [6] He married Miss Christiane Cherfils (1895  - 1978[7]) of Paris, France on December 10, 1919, and they had a son, Harold, who became a professor of politics at University of Rhode Island.[8] Thewlis was one of the few physicians to take note of Ignatz Leo Nascher's 1914 book, Geriatrics: The Diseases of Old Age and Their Treatment, and devoted his life's work to care of the elderly and research into the diseases of old age.[9] He authored "The Care of the Aged: Geriatrics", first published in 1919. Thewlis was also an accomplished amateur magician,[10] and a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians:[4] he recommended the practice of conjuring tricks to keep the mind and hands supple.[11] He died on June 3, 1956, and was cremated.[7]

Publications

Notes and References

  1. http://www.americangeriatrics.org/news/ags65.pdf Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20110606231810/http://www.uri.edu/outreach/rigec/thewlislecture.html Annual Malford Thewlis Lecture in Gerontology and Geriatrics
  3. Journal of the American Medical Association vol 272 (1994) p 1694-7 "Presidential Disability and the Twenty-fifth Amendment"
  4. Institute for Research in Biography, Inc. (1952) American Men of Medicine
  5. Journal of the American Medical Association vol 166 (Sep 1956) p 221 "Deaths"
  6. https://archive.org/stream/americanphysicia00herr/americanphysicia00herr_djvu.txt The American Physician and Surgeon Blue Book: A Distinct Clyclopedia of 1919
  7. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rigenweb/cemetery/cemetery355.html Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries Transcription Project
  8. Journal of the American Medical Association vol 74 (1920) p 263 "Marriages"
  9. T. H. Howell (1988) Age and Ageing vol 17 pp 137-138 "Nascher writes about Geriatrics".
  10. Medical Times (1956) Volume 82, Issue 2, p 484 "Malford W. Thewlis"
  11. M. W. Thewlis (1946) Care of the Aged, p 46 "Magic is an interesting hobby. ....Practice keeps the would-be magician mentally awake, his hands and fingers supple."