Levi Cooper Lane (May 9, 1828 – February 9, 1902) was an American physician and surgeon. He established the Cooper Medical College, forerunner to the

Stanford University School of Medicine The Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California, United States. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Fra ...

, as well as laying the groundwork for Stanford's medical library and the Stanford School of Nursing. The university's medical library is still named

Lane Medical Library Lane Medical Library is the library of the Stanford University School of Medicine at Stanford University, near Palo Alto, California. Its mission is to "accelerate scientific discovery, clinical care, medical education and humanities through teac ...

in his honor.

Early life and education

Lane was born in

Somerville, Ohio Somerville is a census-designated place (CDP) and former village in Milford Township, Butler County, Ohio, United States. The population was 258 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the village had a t ...

on May 9, 1828. He attended Farmer's College near

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

and received an MA degree from

Union Theological Seminary Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (shortened to UTS or Union) is a Private college, private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University since 1928. Presently, Co ...

in New York City. He received a medical degree from

Jefferson Medical College Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. The university is ...

in Philadelphia in 1851. He interned for four years and then served in the U.S. Navy as an Assistant Surgeon from 1855 to 1859.

Early career

] He then settled in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, where his uncle,

Elias Samuel Cooper Elias Samuel Cooper (5 November 1820 – 13 October 1862) was an American surgeon who founded the Stanford Medical School. Cooper was born in the Quaker family of Jacob and Elizabeth Walls living in Somerville, Ohio. He graduated in medicine fro ...

, also a physician, had just established the first medical college on the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast and the Western Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the Contiguous United States, contig ...

in 1858. The medical school was chartered by the College of the Pacific (now the University of the Pacific). It was called the Medical Department of the College of the Pacific and was staffed entirely by local practicing physicians. Cooper served as president and chief surgeon; Lane became a faculty member. After Cooper's death in 1862, the Medical Department ceased operation. Lane and other faculty members began teaching at the newly established Toland Medical College (later the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

) instead. Lane married Pauline C. Sampson in 1870.

Later career

Lane wanted to revive his uncle's college and in 1870 he succeeded in reopening it. He served as president and recruited some of Cooper's former faculty members as instructors. The school was affiliated with University College, later the

San Francisco Theological Seminary The San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS) is a seminary in San Anselmo, California with historic ties to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). SFTS became embedded in a new Graduate School of Theology of the Universi ...

, and the name was changed to the Medical College of the Pacific. Lane had bigger plans for the school, and in 1882 he renamed it Cooper Medical College, after his uncle, the founder. He moved it to a new brick building at Sacramento and Webster Streets which he had personally financed. He also built Lane Hospital and a nursing school, and made provision in his will for the construction of a freestanding medical library.

Death and legacy

Lane died in San Francisco on February 9, 1902, and his widow died that August; one third of Lane's estate was bequeathed to Cooper Medical College to establish a medical library. In 1908, Stanford acquired Cooper Medical College as the nucleus for the Stanford Medical Department, now the

. In 1910, Stanford also acquired the assets of the Levi C. Lane Medical Library Trust, consisting of 30,000 volumes as well as a building site and funds for the building of a library. Lane Library was dedicated November 3, 1912, on the southeast corner of Webster and Sacramento Streets, across the street from the medical school. By then the medical school had become the Stanford University Department of Medicine. The medical school and Lane Library were moved to the main Stanford campus in 1959.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Levi Cooper 1828 births 1902 deaths People from Butler County, Ohio American surgeons Physicians from Ohio Stanford University School of Medicine faculty