According to the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, “a leader is best when people are hardly aware of his existence . . . Of a good leader, who speaks little, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, the people will say, ‘We did it ourselves.’”
And so it is with Dr. Jerome Williams Sr. who passed Saturday, March 16, 2013. Our sympathies are with his wonderful wife Carol and his entire family. Dr. Williams was truly an icon in our community, a quiet inspiration to all.
I recall an event at my home that Dr. Williams attended. When I asked him if he wanted a chair, after noticing him limping slightly, he said, “Will, I still got fight in me, I am in no ways tired.” A review of his remarkable life reveals a man who never tired of the good fight, but shied from any publicity that would imply he struggled alone.
Dr. Jerome Williams Sr. was a leader in the St. Louis African-American community for over 50 years, retiring after 50 years of private practice in internal medicine.
Dr. Williams attended college at Morehouse and completed medical school at Meharry Medical College in 1947. He then entered the residency program at Homer G. Phillips Hospital. Afterwards, he was appointed director of the Tuberculosis Service, and for 15 years served as director of the Outpatient Department at Homer G. Phillips Hospital. Dr. Williams founded a bustling medical practice, Gateway to Health, Williams Clinic, Ltd. on Union Blvd. in North St. Louis with his sons, Jerome Williams Jr., M.D. and Wendell Williams, M.D.
Dr. Williams served as president of the Mound City Medical Forum, president of the Pan Missouri Medical Association, and chief of staff of the former Central Medical Center. He also served on the Board of Directors of Physicians Health Plan and the Missouri State Board of Registration for Healing Arts. He was an active member of the National Medical Association, Mound City Medical Forum, AMA and the American College of Chest Physicians.
A well-recognized civic leader, Dr. Williams was a Life Member of the NAACP and Urban League, and was appointed to the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners. He served on the board of the St. Louis Symphony for 10 years, the board of the St. Louis Regional Commerce and Growth Association, and was a commissioner of the Missouri Botanical Garden. He was a past president of the St. Louis Community College Board of Trustees, a charter member of the St. Louis Community College Foundation Board, as well as that board’s past president and vice president.
As one of the pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement in St. Louis, Dr. Williams was one of the leaders of the march on Jefferson Bank in 1963 to protest discrimination in hiring and lending. He later helped found the Gateway National Bank in North St. Louis and served on the bank’s Board of Directors.
To such an unselfish and rewarding life came many well-deserved accolades, including honorary degrees from St. Louis Community College, awards from the St. Louis Symphony, Harris-Stowe State College, the Northside Preservation Commission, and the St. Louis Society of Black Educators, and induction into the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity – Eta Boule. In 2003 Washington University School of Medicine honored him with the Homer G. Phillips Public Health Award.
Our community may have lost a legend, but his vision remains with us; we know his work continues through those who share his commitment to social justice and his belief that none of us who benefitted from the labors of the civil rights activists have any right to feel tired as we advance the struggle.
Will Ross, MD, MPH, is associate dean for Diversity at Washington University School of Medicine.
