Blacks@Dartmouth 1775 to 1960

Robert Shaw Wilkinson, 84, died on September 17, in Orangeburg, S.C., where he had lived since his retirement in 1971.

Bob grew up in Orangeburg. He prepared for Dartmouth College at Wilbraham Academy. As a premedical student, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude. Bob graduated from the Dartmouth Medical School in 1925 and revived his M.D. degree from Harvard in 1927. After an internship at Harlem Hospital, he entered the general practice of medicine and surgery in New York City. He served at Harlem Valley State Hospital, was director of surgery at Mount Morris Park Hospital, was a senior surgeon at Sydenham and Harlem Hospitals, and was a consulting surgeon with the New York City police department. He was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Bob was a major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in World War II. After the war he resumed his practice in New York City, where he remained until 1961 when he moved to Tuskegee, Ala., as acting chief of surgery at the VA hospital. He concluded his career as a staff surgeon at the Huntington, W.Va., VA Hospital from 1967 to 1971, He received the Disabled American Veterans National Commander's Award for outstanding service on behalf of disabled veterans in 1971.

After his retirement, he served as a consultant with the Minority Affairs Program of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. He was on the board of directors of the Orangeburg Mental Health Clinic and a member of the vestry of St. Paul's Episcopal.

Bob was a loyal and devoted Dartmouth alumnus. His last visit to Hanover was in June 1983, when his grandson graduated.

His wife of 52 years, the former Melissa Ruth Royster, died in March 1980. He is survived by a brother, Frost '28, and a sister, Lula; a son, Robert Jr. '50; and three grandchildren. Amy '78, Karin, and Robert M. '83.