IN REMEMBRANCE
In Remembrance
NORTON G.
WATERMAN, MD
September 7, 1928 –
October 6, 2017
D
r. Norton Waterman was a highly respected surgeon who
became noted for fine surgical skills, teaching clarity
and leadership in hospital and community affairs. These
talents brought great admiration, but his greatest legacy
will surely be the founding of Supplies Over Seas, the
Louisville-based Medical Surplus Recovery Organization that has
achieved national acclaim for recycling surplus medical equipment
and supplies to serve desperate needs in developing countries.
BACKGROUND AND FAMILY Norton Garlove Waterman was
born to Sophia Garlove Waterman and Joseph Meyer Waterman on
September 7, 1928 in Louisville, Ky. In his early youth, the family
moved to Greenwood, Miss., where he and his brothers (David and
Irwin) were raised. He attended high school in nearby Jackson, Miss.,
and then received a bachelor’s degree at the University of Tennessee.
After serving in the U.S. Army Chemical Corp, he returned to the
University of Tennessee for a master’s degree in microbiology. This
gave a skill set that would serve him well throughout his career. He
and his wife, Judith Layne Waterman, have two sons, Daniel and
Joseph, and three grandchildren, Elijah, David and Anna.
MEDICAL AND SURGICAL EDUCATION Waterman entered
Harvard Medical School and received the M.D. degree in 1955. He
then was accepted to the prestigious surgical residency at Barnes
Hospital in St. Louis, which he completed in 1960. After training,
a request to establish a surgical practice at Louisville’s Jewish Hos-
pital returned him to his birthplace, where his career would thrive.
PRACTICE, ACADEMIC ENDEAVORS AND LEADER-
SHIP ROLES Dr. Waterman and Dr. Berel “Busch” Abrams es-
tablished a strong surgical group, which was the pillar of general
surgery at Jewish Hospital, and came to include Dr. Martha McCoy
and Dr. Russell Williams. Dr. J. David Richardson, Vice-Chair of
Surgery at the University of Louisville, notes that Waterman was
technically skilled and capable of the most difficult and challenging
of cases. He also held an appointment as Clinical Associate Profes-
sor of Surgery at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
His mastery of surgical principles and ability to clearly teach them
contributed to the rise of the UofL Department of Surgery as one of
the premier training programs of the era. Throughout this time, he
maintained an active research laboratory in the UofL Price Institute
of Surgical Research where his focus was microbiology, with studies
of antibiotics. Dr. Berel Abrams recalled that among many fine
publications, the most noted was a lighthearted study called “Dirty
Money,” which identified the microbial organisms on coins and bills.
This captured larger public attention than his more serious studies of
surgical infections. In 1978, he was elected President of the Louisville
Surgical Society. In 1990, he became President of the Jewish Hos-
Dr. Waterman was a GLMS member for 57 years
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LOUISVILLE MEDICINE