-.Y- o n A p ril 5 , 2 0 2 1 a t C A R N E G IE M E L L O N U N IV L IB R h ttp ://jb .a sm .o rg / D o w n lo a d e d fro m http://jb.asm.org/ 3abib 3benbridtk fgerp" 1860Q--937 David Hendricks Bergey was born on the Mennonite meeting- house farm in Shippack township, Montgomery County, Penn- sylvania, December 27, 1860. As was the custom in the rural sections of Pennsylvania in those days, he worked as a boy on the home farm during the summer time and attended school in the winter time. After he was 18, he attended private and nor- mal schools and finally taught for two winters in rural schools before he decided to study medicine. It is interesting to note that he started his medical training in the good old fashioned way in the office of the local physician, Dr. Samuel Wolfe of Shippack. After this, he entered the University of Pennsylvania for fur- ther scientific and medical training and secured his B.S. and M.D. degrees simultaneously in 1884 at a time when knowledge of Pasteur and Koch's recent discoveries was causing eager discus- sion in American medical circles. Dr. Henry Formad of the Medical School staff had made two visits to Dr. Koch's labora- tory during this period, and Dr. Bergey received his first intro- duction to bacteria in Dr. Formad's laboratory and from his lec- tures on the germ theory of disease. In June, 1884, he married Anne S. Hallman of Shippack, a sister of one of his former pupils. For nearly ten years, Dr. Bergey practiced medicine at North Wales, Pennsylvania, before he returned to the University in 1893 as a student, and later as the Scott Fellow in Hygiene in the newly built laboratory of Hygiene. In 1895 he was made Assist- ant in Chemistry and when Dr. Abbott was appointed Director of the Laboratory in 1896 he became First Assistant. Later (1903) he was made Assistant Professor and in 1926 Professor of Hygiene and Bacteriology. In 1903, he took charge of the teaching of bacteriology to the medical students at the Uni- President, Society of American Bacteriologists, 1915. 343 JOuRaAL OF BACTREXOLOGY, vOL: 35, NO. 4 o n A p ril 5 , 2 0 2 1 a t C A R N E G IE M E L L O N U N IV L IB R h ttp ://jb .a sm .o rg / D o w n lo a d e d fro m http://jb.asm.org/ OBITUARY versity, and continued this work until he retired in 1932. During the World War Dr. Bergey served as a Major in the Sanitary Corps at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. Not content to retire even at 72, Dr. Bergey became interested in the development of tetanus toxoid and other biologic products for his friend Dr. H. K. Mulford of the National Drug Company and continued at this work until his death on September 5, 1937 at the age of 76. Dr. Bergey was a tireless investigator as well as a teacher and his studies led to the publication of a long list of scientific papers beginning with his report as a Fellow on the Nature of the Air Expired from the Lungs. His Principles of Hygiene which ap- peared first in 1901, ran through a series of seven editions, and was widely used. Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology has been preeminent in its field ever since it was first published in 1923. The manuscript for this book was started soon after he served as President of the Society of American Bacteriologists in 1915, at a time when the Society was active in revising the older classification outlines to fit the newer knowledge. Feeling that the work would be more satisfactorily accomplished if carried out by a group of individuals, Dr. Bergey requested the Society to appoint a committee to work with him in developing the Manual. This was done and through the publication of four successive editions under the auspices of the Society, the Manual came to have a more and more widely recognized field and au- thoritative standing. It was Dr. Bergey's wish from the beginning that all profits from this book be used to develop research in the field of sys- tematic bacteriology. As it proved difficult to carry out his plan under the auspices of the Society, the accrued royalty funds were returned to him in 1935, and he placed them in the hands of a self perpetuating Board of Trustees who have accepted the responsibility for preparing the fifth and later editions of the Manual. Thus, he has established for himself a memorial that will remain as long as competent workers can be found to carry out the trust. The JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY was established by the Society 344 o n A p ril 5 , 2 0 2 1 a t C A R N E G IE M E L L O N U N IV L IB R h ttp ://jb .a sm .o rg / D o w n lo a d e d fro m http://jb.asm.org/ OBITUARY of American Bacteriologists during the time that Dr. Bergey was President of the Society. The enterprise commanded his interest from its start and his presidential address on "The Pedagogics of Bacteriology" is the first article in the first volume of the Journal. The interest aroused by this address led him to prepare a further report on "Early Instructors in Bacteriology in the United States" which appeared in the next volume of the Journal. It will interest his scientific colleagues to know that his hobby was genealogy. He served as Recording Secretary and Historian for the Bergey Family Association for many years and in 1925 published a 1150 page book under the title The Bergey Family in America giving the lineage of over five thousand descendants of John Ulrich Berge who came to America probably from Switzer- land in 1717, finally settling in southeastern Pennsylvania in 1726. As a teacher, he insisted on high standards of work and thereby won the lasting friendship and regard of a host of younger work- ers. By his modesty, unassuming attitude and unwillingness to enter into controversies, he won many warm friends. It is a tribute to his sterling worth to report that those that knew him best respected and admired him most. A friend has left us, his work well done; and his spirit lives on in the lives of those with whom he came in contact. ROBERT S. BREED 345 o n A p ril 5 , 2 0 2 1 a t C A R N E G IE M E L L O N U N IV L IB R h ttp ://jb .a sm .o rg / D o w n lo a d e d fro m http://jb.asm.org/