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John Franklin, M.D., who helped lay the groundwork for EVMS and inspired new emphasis on care for older adults through a lifelong commitment to medicine, died April 1, 2005. Franklin, a professor emeritus of internal medicine, celebrated his 90th birthday Feb. 15, 2005. The Glennan Center hosted a birthday party for Franklin, bringing together school administrators, friends and family with former patients and colleagues to celebrate "John Franklin Day" at EVMS. Stefan Gravenstein, M.D., director of the Glennan Center and holder of the John Franklin Chair of Geriatrics, said Franklin was one of the chief advocates for a comprehensive geriatric program at EVMS encompassing education, patient care and research. "He was a visionary in that he understood the arising need for a geriatric focus to medicine," Gravenstein said. "As a man of great personal integrity, he engendered trust in benefactors who shared his vision." When Virginia Glennan Ferguson gave EVMS $2 million to found the Glennan Center, she did so partly because of her admiration for Franklin. "He was a remarkable, remarkable man," Ferguson said. "I am enormously proud of the Glennan Center, and I am happy there was John Franklin Day when he got all those accolades. He is the one who, because of his great interest in geriatrics, kept that little flame burning until we got together." Franklin came to Norfolk in 1948 with his wife, Frances, and growing family after a three-year hitch in the Army Air Force medical corps and a fellowship in internal medicine and cardiology at Johns Hopkins. The Yale School of Medicine graduate opened an internal medicine practice and eventually co-founded the Norfolk Diagnostic Clinic. It was in mid-career that Franklin was tapped to serve as a founding member of the board that would establish EVMS and eventually become the EVMS Board of Visitors. Franklin served two three-year terms on the board — the maximum allowable — leaving in 1970. Franklin's commitment to the school continued when EVMS opened its doors in 1973. He was among the first to join the school as a volunteer faculty member. He retired from his private medical practice in 1985 after a long and distinguished career. But the retirement was short-lived. Just two weeks later, he launched a second, equally impressive, career. Recognizing the growth in the older population and the need for specialized knowledge and training in caring for this population, he joined EVMS' full-time faculty and, at the age of 73, achieved certification in geriatric medicine. Franklin's advocacy helped bring about the establishment of the Glennan Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology at EVMS. He recruited Gravenstein and a team of nationally known geriatric experts to bring the center to life. But Franklin remained active even after the Center began. He continued to direct a geriatric clerkship for fourth-year medical students, a program he began in 1993, that became a model for other medical schools.
Nine years after its creation in 1996, the Glennan Center is fulfilling
Franklin's original vision. In part through Franklin's influence, the
EVMS medical curriculum is second to none in its geriatric emphasis.
Two EVMS graduates heavily influenced by that geriatric focus are now
geriatricians themselves on the Glennan Center faculty. Franklin also
took an active interest in Glennan Center research, even volunteering
to participate as a study subject.
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