Chancellor who aided UAMS’ rise dies at 74
Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008
Harry P. Ward, who is credited with bringing about the “renaissance” of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences during his 21 years as chancellor, died at his Little Rock home Tuesday after a long battle with emphysema. He was 74. A tall, slender man, Ward was known for his friendly nature and his vision. “He was a wonderful human being,” said B. Alan Sugg, president of the University of Arkansas System. “I think history will show that he was one of the most outstanding leaders that Arkansas has ever had.” UAMS was little more than a small medical school with a charity hospital when Ward moved to Little Rock from Denver in 1979, said Dr. Kent C. Westbrook, the university’s distinguished professor of surgery.
“We were in a tough time,” said Westbrook, founding director of the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, now the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. “He really had the vision to change the hospital from a charity hospital to one that rendered specialized care to people of all socioeconomic levels.” Ward led the university through massive expansions, including development of the cancer institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute and the Harry P. Ward Patient Tower.
He pushed for construction of UAMS’ first major research facility, the Biomedical Research Building.
“Dr. Ward was never willing to accept status quo,” J. Thomas May, chief executive officer of Simmons First National Corp. in Pine Bluff and former UA trustee, said in a statement Wednesday. “He embraced change and had the unique ability to prepare UAMS to be on the cutting edge of health care delivery.” Ward was a friendly person who was known as a fair leader with a knack for remembering names.
“He probably could call more people by their first name than anyone that has ever been on campus,” Westbrook said. “When you walked around with him and you saw someone from housekeeping he would know them. He would know people in the cafeteria, he would know the professors, he would know the nurses.” Jo Ellen Ford was a founding member of the UAMS Foundation, which started under Ward’s leadership. She said Ward knew how to get people invested in UAMS’ future and ask for money in a “gentle way.” “Harry was the consummate gentleman and he had a ready smile and he had the ability to put people at ease,” Ford said.
Ward established long-lasting relationships with state legislators. He also led the institution away from its heavy reliance on public funds from state and federal governments by reaching out to economic and business leaders.
“He had a vitality about him and was a good communicator and a good leader who had a vision for what UAMS could be,” said I. Dodd Wilson, chancellor of UAMS. “In the 21 years he was here we had a lot of remarkable things happen.” Ward appealed to private citizens and developed a strong support system that remains intact, Sugg said.
“People just wanted to follow his leadership and wanted to give money to UAMS because if it was Harry Ward’s idea it was a grand idea,” Sugg said.
Westbrook said Ward had a special way of making requests.
“He was fairly soft-spoken, he almost never got angry,” Westbrook said. “He would present something and after he finished he would say ‘Oh by the way,” and report something really big in about two lines. ‘ Oh by the way’ was one of the sayings attributed to him. ” Ward was born in Pueblo, Colo., in the midst of the Great Depression on June 6, 1933.
The middle child of three boys, he excelled in science and was known as a boy to accompany his father, a family physician, on house calls. He graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University in 1955.
That summer he married his wife Betty Jo, and they moved to Denver where she was a music teacher and he attended the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Ward spent a year interning at Bellevue Hospital Center of New York University and three years at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
He was dean of the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine from 1972 to 1978.
Betty Jo Ward was a constant presence at UAMS throughout his chancellorship, and since he retired in 2000. She was as much a part of the institution as he was, Ford said.
“He included Betty Jo in everything,” she said.
In a 1995 interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Ward said they came to Arkansas for the challenge of helping the university grow.
“We looked at Arkansas as a great opportunity,” Ward said. “We could make a difference here and have fun doing it. Gov. [Bill ] Clinton had just been elected, and it was an exciting time in the state.” Ward’s contributions to the university and to the state will be remembered for generations.
“I think UAMS is really a terrific institution for the state, and it wasn’t when Harry came, but it had potential,” Wilson said. “He saw that potential and changed potential into reality. Fifty years from now people may not remember Dr. Ward, but UAMS will still be a factor in their lives and I think that will be his legacy... I think that’s a pretty good legacy.”
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