Born: 1831
Died: January 23, 1895
Excerpt from obituary published in Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 34, 1895
Dr. Alfred Lebbeus Loomis was a prominent New York City physician. He was a consultant in diseases of the heart and lungs, and wrote a book on the physical diagnosis of diseases of the chest that became a classic in the profession. He held the chair in Practice of Medicine at the University Medical College [sic-likely University of the City of New York]. 1 He developed tuberculosis but subsequently recovered during a trip to the Adirondacks in 1867. In 1873, he encountered Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau at Paul Smith's Hotel, and examined him. In 1879 he published "The Adirondack Region as a Therapeutical Agent in the Treatment of Pulmonary Phthisis" in the Medical Record, advocating the benefits of Adirondack air for those in the early stages of tuberculosis, and describing twenty cases, one of which was E. L. Trudeau's. Loomis later wrote that he advised Trudeau to spend the winter in the Adirondacks, while Trudeau wrote that he advised Loomis that he intended to do so. In any case, Trudeau became his patient, and Loomis became Trudeau's mentor, sending patients to Trudeau's new sanatorium, and serving on its board of trustees. 2 He was the first president of the American Climatological Association, predecessor to the National Tuberculosis Association, and sponsored Trudeau for membership.
At the time of his death in 1895, Loomis was working on the establishment of a sanatorium in Liberty, New York. The following year, friends established the Loomis Sanatorium in his name.
Loomis was also the uncle of John Russell Pope, who designed a number of buildings for Gabriels Sanatorium.
Loomis served two terms as president of the New York Academy of Medicine, was a president of the New York Pathological Society, and the Medical Society of the State of New York.
Sources:
- Conway, John, Loomis : The Man, The Sanitarium, and The Search for The Cure, Fleischmanns, N.Y. : Purple Mountain Press, 2006. ISBN 1-930098-78-2
- Obituary for Alfred L. Loomis
Footnotes
1. Harper's Weekly, shortly after Loomis's death.
2. In the caption of a photo, he was identified as "Founder of the Adirondack Sanitarium." Harper's Weekly, published shortly after Loomis's death.
