Physician
Centurion, 1921–1956
Born 25 October 1877 in Dedham, Massachusetts
Died 19 January 1956 in New York (Manhattan), New York
Proposed by Ellsworth Eliot Jr. and Lyman Abbott
Elected 3 December 1921 at age forty-four
Century Memorial
Royal S. Haynes graduated from Cornell in 1899, Phi Beta Kappa, and from Columbia’s P. and S. in 1903. He practised medicine in the City, and became Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia, and for many years he was consulting pediatrician to Sloane Hospital. He was extremely interested in defects in posture, and wrote a book about this problem—a very good book, too—but he was also a pillar of strength for sick children (and their mothers) no matter what the trouble was.
He came of old New England stock, on both sides, and New England called him though he lived in New York. He seriously studied the early history of Massachusetts and Connecticut; and he had in his bones a reverence for the people and the traditions of that territory, and spent his vacations sojourning in its wide areas.
He had a rare quality of attracting and holding friends. He wrote well—as an editor and author, his text had admirable scientific appreciation and clear and compelling description. It was fun to be with him, for he was possessed of a lively and pertinent humor, and he gave to companionship the quality of his own ample world of ideas and experience. The courage and patience with which he met a long and distressing terminal illness revealed the toughness and elevation of his spirit and character.
Children are like the olive branches; and whoso ministers unto them, he shall be at peace.
George W. Martin
1957 Century Association Yearbook