Richard H. Derby

Richard Henry Derby was a Bostonian by birth, a graduate from two schools of Harvard University, and by choice a New Yorker. Such was his early promise that he was made a member of this Association at twenty-eight; after thirty-five years of membership, during which he attained eminence in his arduous profession as a surgeon, such foresight was amply justified. He died at sixty-three, respected, beloved, and rich in friendships, many if not most of which were formed and ripened among us. In his chosen specialty as an oculist his reputation was national, the well-being of the medical profession was one of his special cares, and his interest in the science of sanitation made him a philanthropist of importance. Thorough and conscientious in his relations with hospitals and asylums, the gracious character which he displayed in them and in association with his fellow-men everywhere endeared him to the best; his memory stays warm wherever he moved among men.

William Milligan Sloane
1908 Century Association Yearbook