Tony Delahant, right, at work in with fellow laboratory technician, Robert Liddy, on left, after 1934. Photo courtesy of Kay and Marvin Best.
Born: March 17, 1899
Died: April 10, 1975
Married: Margaret Munn
Children: Anthony Brady Delahant, Jr., Cathy Delahant
Anthony Brady Delahant came to Saranac Lake with TB. He had gone to Fordham College, and then drove an ambulance in World War I in France and was diagnosed with TB after the war. He was a research associate at the Saranac Laboratory; in 1966 he served as assistant to the administrator at Trudeau. He served on the board of the T.B. Society.
The family lived at 10 Forest Hill Avenue.
He is buried in St. Bernard's Cemetery.
- Information provided by his granddaughter, Catherine Delahant Sanders, September 2012.
The following quotes are from "They Rebuild Men" by Eleanor Dayton. Partial transcription from a partial photocopy, page 10, source unknown, apparently 1941.
"They're the staff of the Saranac Laboratory. Desiring to take their place in the world despite the handicap of tuberculosis, they have become research workers, whose honest and often spectacular attainments are internationally known.
"They are quietly at work on the research problem of tuberculosis and of silicosis and other dust diseases. They are quietly proving, also, though they're unaware of it, that Saranac Lake is an A-No. 1 spot for rehabilitation of the patient.
"They've all had tuberculosis. They're united in their interest in its care and cure. Not doctors of medicine, they all see in laboratory work a way of further defeating a disease which each day, through their efforts, grows less formidable.
"They're largely self-taught, though as one learns his profession, he gives his help to the next. . . .
"Then there's Anthony Delahant, a Fordham boy, who was called into war service in his second year and went overseas. He came back with a little tuberculosis, and signing on with the laboratory in 1928, proved how valuable a man can make himself. . . . developed a . . . tive technique necessary for animal experimentation. 'If Tony stops doing things, I might just as well stop, too,' is what Dr. Gardner says.
"Dr. Gardner pointed out that it was one of the pet theories of Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau, founder of the laboratory, that a place should be provided for medical and research men to work while getting back on their feet after a bout with tuberculosis.
"The laboratory is that place, and in helping to direct the lives of many, it has added a great deal to the scientific knowledge of tuberculosis and other subjects." #
