Clarke, Norman E. (Norman Ellsworth), 1892-

Dr. Clarke (1892-1984), a pioneer cardiac heart surgeon from metro-Detroit (Mich.) was the founder of the Clarke Historical Library. (For further information about him, see the Clarke Historical Library website.).

Dr. Norman E. Clarke, Sr., born Aug. 27, 1892 was a self-made man. He graduated in 1913 from CMU with a teacher's certificate. After several years of teaching and being a school principal he decided to become a doctor. In 1917 he entered the University of Michigan Medical School, from which he received his degree. He specialized in the emerging fields of cardiology and electro-cardiology. He worked at Henry Ford Hospital, 1923-1926 in its Heart Station. He was in private practice in cardiology, 1926-1980. He founded Grace Hosital's "Heart Station" and an indigent clinic in the late 1920s. He founded the mid-west's first HMO-type clinic during the 1930s. He developed the depts. of cadiology and electro-cardiology and research at Detroit's Providence Hospital, 1930s-1950s. His collection of Mark Twain books and materials on the Great Lakes and Old Northwest Territory were donated to CMU in 1954 and became the nucleus of the Clarke Historical Library. In 1971 he donated the children's books collection of his wife, Lucile, then deceased, to the Clarke as the Lucile Clarke Memorial Children's Library. He generously donated historical and children's volumes and manuscripts to the Clarke Historical Library until his death in 1984. The Clarkes had three children, Dr. Norman E. Clarke, Jr., Dr. Dale Clarke, and Marion Clarke Fry. (For further information see the Clarke Historical Library's webpage section on Dr. Clarke.).