Alumnus Profile

Born in 1911, T. Stewart Hamilton, MD, grew up amid hospital administration.

His father, also a physician, headed Harper Hospital in Detroit for most of his life. T. Stewart Hamilton earned his medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit in 1939 and completed his internship and residency at Harper Hospital.

Hamilton married Amy Washburn, whose father was the head of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Hamilton later became assistant director at Massachusetts General and then director of Newton (Mass.)-Wellesley Hospital.

But Hamilton’s success was based on more than just his family heritage. His integrity, insight and popularity among colleagues helped him carve a niche for himself at Hartford Hospital, where he served as executive director and president for more than 20 years.

In addition to his hospital duties, Hamilton played important roles at the state and national levels. He served as president of the Massachusetts Hospital Association, the Connecticut Hospital Association and the American Hospital Association (AHA), and as commissioner and vice chairman of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals. He received distinguished service awards from various organizations as well as gold medal awards from the American College of Hospital Administrators in 1971 and from the New England Hospital Assembly in 1975. ...

Among Hamilton’s greatest achievements was testifying before Congress on behalf of the AHA to support the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s. He then went back to local organizations to explain the government programs.

"In 1966, the first year of Medicare, there were all kinds of fears about what was going to happen when the elderly began to get these cards," says Dennis May, president of the Connecticut Hospital Association. May was director of finance at the CHA in 1966, when Hamilton was president there. "Stewart had a very calming but firm hand through all that. He and I worked very closely together with respect to Medicare finances and the billing process."

...After Hamilton retired and left Hartford in 1976, he continued influencing hospital administration by helping to educate others. In 1977, Hamilton became an honorary professor and guest lecturer at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington. ...

"He was sort of an advisory figure," says James Walker, MD, professor emeritus of medicine at the university’s geriatrics center and past chairman of the community medicine and healthcare department. "Hamilton was greatly respected by students at all levels. His very demeanor engendered respect."