William Holmes Crosby, Jr.

William Holmes Crosby (December 1, 1914 – January 15, 2005) is considered by many to be one of the founding fathers of modern hematology. He published more the 450 peer-reviewed papers in the field, as well as those of oncology, gastroenterology, iron metabolism, nutrition and general medical practice. In addition he was an inventor and published translator of poetry.

William Holmes Crosby Jr. was born in Wheeling, West Virginia. Six months later the family moved to Oil City, Pennsylvania. His father was an architect. His mother, Frances Irene Forrester, was a schoolteacher. Crosby was drawn toward medicine at an early age, attaching himself at age 12 to volunteer physicians who worked at the Boy scout camp he attended. In high school he discovered his love of literature from his sophomore English teacher, Dorothy Mann. Crosby attended University of Pennsylvania under a scholarship awarded to him by the Pennsylvania legislature. During this time, he began his life in research as a volunteer in the local hospital hematology lab.

In 1936 Crosby entered the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. During his third year, he left school to spend six months on his back, recovering from tuberculosis. He graduated in 1940 and enlisted in the army, beginning a military internship at Walter Reed Army Hospital. After the outbreak of World War II, Crosby served two years at as an instructor in the Army's Medical Field Service School at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. He then requested overseas duty and, in 1942, joined U.S. 85th Infantry Division. During this time Crosby, always seeking a something to study, studied Russian. He would keep vocabulary cards in his helmet. Crosby's battlefield duties resulted in a Bronze Star with an oak leaf cluster. Another cluster was added for his service in Korea.

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