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A Hospital Is Born
Birth of a
New Profession
A Nursing School For
The New Century
A New Role For Nurses
Changes In The
Nursing Movement
The Early 20th Century
Nursing Student
Nursing Today
Nursing:
A Critical Occupation
Rose Muscatine Hauer:
A Nursing Visionary
Seymour Philips:
A Stalwart for Service
Leaders and Honors
Seymour Philips: A Stalwart for Service
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1984 School is re-named Phillips Beth Israel School of Nursing in honor of Beth Israel Trustee and philanthropist Seymour J. Phillips. | |
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Seymour Philips, chairman of the School of Nursing for almost 40 years was loved for his extraordinary generosity of spirit and well known among nursing students and alumni for his celebratory graduation parties at his Park Avenue home. His affection for the school and its students is legendary. In the late 1970s, a crisis befell the Beth Israel School of Nursing: a trustee went before the board with a proposal to close the school. The trustee questioned expenditures, claiming the hospital was losing money due to the school. Seymour Philips knew that was not the case and met with Ray Trussel, M.D. and general director of the hospital. In the end, the trustee who argued to close the school donated money for scholarships. Many agreed that Seymour Philips, through his knowledge of finance, deep affection for the school, and sheer force of will, single-handedly saved the school from closing. |
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President Robert Newman and former board chairman Herbert Singer, before his death in 1996, shared the opinion that the hospital wouldn't have a cardiac care unit if it weren't for Seymour Philips. In 1982, Philips created a $1 million scholarship fund on behalf of Rose Muscatine Hauer to which board chairman Herbert Singer contributed $125,000, and the trustees established the Rose Muscatine Hauer Distinguished Lecture Series. At every School of Nursing graduation, Seymour Philips stood at the podium and gave a rousing, inspiring speech for the graduates. He would turn his back to the audience and directly address the nurses on the stage, as if no one else was in the auditorium. The students never needed to be told how much Philips cared for them. |
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When Seymour Philips died in 1987, Rose Muscatine Hauer - now dean emeritus - was one of the speakers at the service at Temple Emmanuel . It was a cold, wintry day and the temple was filled with family, friends, associates, the entire 1987 nursing class, and numerous alumni from the Beth Israel nursing staff. Hauer stepped to the podium and as she looked up to speak, 200 nursing students in uniform -their starched white caps at attention - rose from their seats to honor their dear friend and long time patron; a fitting final tribute from a legacy Seymour Phillips helped create. |
 Seymour Philips and Rose Muscatine Hauer |
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