| Graduation Year | Class of 1940 |
| Date of Passing | Nov 25, 2004 |
| About | Robert B. Morrison, M.D., 84, of Zanesville, died at 11:49 am. Thursday, November 25, 2004, at home. He was born March 10, 1920, in Zanesville, son of the late Robert B. and Florence Perfect Morrison. A 1944 Graduate of Ohio State Medical School, Dr. Morrison opened his pediatric practice in Zanesville after a two -year internship and residency at Kansas City General Hospital, Kansas City, MO. As one of only two practicing pediatricians in Zanesville when he started in 1948, he cared for the infants and children of this community from a comfortable old two-story house on the corner of Forest Avenue and Ashland, now the site of Morrison House Hospice. During his nearly 40 years of practice, Dr. Morrison sat on the Board of Good Samaritan Hospital, was president of the Muskingum County Academy of Medicine and served the Public Health Department as Administrator of the Well Baby Clinic. A member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, he also served as a public school physician and conducted clinicals at Children’s Hospital as an associate Professor at Ohio State University. It was during his tenure as president of the local Academy that he helped organize the initial distribution of the Sabin oral polio vaccine to the residents of Muskingum County, taking the first dose himself during a live broadcast on WHZ-TV. In 1990 he received the Hiram Heck Community Service Award in recognition of his many years of service to the children of this area. In his early 50’s, Dr. Morrison, resumed what had been a life long interest in painting, primarily watercolors, developing a style that was keenly observant, understated and filled with a gentle sense of humor. Twice he was honored with exhibits at the Zanesville Art Center and later he partnered with other local artists in shows to raise money for both Morrison House and Madison School. Dr. Morrison began his life with a crew of firemen linking arms to pull his crib to safety after “Zanesville’s greatest street car tragedy,” March 26, 1920, when according to historian Norris Schneider, the street brakes, jumped the track, and plowed into the Pioneer apartment building. “The apartments on the second and third floors collapsed. Furniture spilled off the sagging floors into the street - all but a baby crib on the third floor containing Robert Morrison Jr. The crib was pulled back and he was saved.” As Dr. Morrison later put it: “ This was the first example of a life long experience of people doing things for me. His former patients, colleagues, friends and family would agree that he more than retuned the favor. Surviving are his wife, Pauline (Pauly) Morrison, whom he married October 23, 1943, of the home; two daughters, Judy (Jeff) Gorsuch of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, and Jon (Paul) Hanbury of Norfolk, VA; five grandchildren, Gretchen (Brad) Pilcher, Katy Gorsuch, Lindsay (Tim) Rades, Joshua Hanbury and Robert Hanbury; and one great-grandson, Jack Pilcher. He is further survived by two sister, Suzanne Coyle, of Atlanta, GA, and Mary (Reed) McClelland, of Columbus; and two brothers, Charles (Ginny) Morrison of Palm City, FL, and William (Marcia) Morrison of Orlando; a sister-in-law, Martha Johnson of Pittsburgh, PA ; as well as numerous nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents, Dr. Morrison was preceded in death by two sisters, Claire Louise and Juliet Morrison. A private service and burial will take place at Memorial Park Cemetery. |
