Speaker: Richard Gunderman
Eli Lilly and Co, founded in 1876, is the largest private corporation in Indiana, and the Lilly Endowment is the largest private philanthropy in the US.
Richard Gunderman is Chancellor's Professor of Radiology at the IU School of Medicine. He is a member of the Scientech Club and a frequent program contributor.
Sponsored by Jeff Rasley
Program: Col. Eli Lilly
Speaker: Richard Gunderman, MD, PhD, Chancellor’s Professor of Radiology, IU School of Medicine, Scientech Club member
Introduced By: Bill Halsema
Attendance: NESC:109; Zoom: 24
Guest(s): Cherryl Milukas, Jim Hartmann. Denny Stephens, Clint Reck, Louise Kinney
Scribe: Bill Dick
Editor: Ed Nitka
Talk’s Zoom recording found at: https://www.scientechclubvideos.org/zoom/07132026.mp4
Dr. Richard Gunderman returned with his usual sparkling talk – this one on Col. Eli Lilly, the founder of Elil Lilly & Co. Eli Lilly was a good man. Elil Lilly is the largest healthcare firm in the U. S. It also has the largest medical foundation in the U. S. There is a plaque in downtown Indianapolis marking the original company location.
Eli Lilly was faithful to his Methodist faith. He was the oldest of eleven children and attended Ashbury College, later named DePauw. He was an abolitionist and followed John Wesley’s wisdom – “earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.” He began in Lafayette, IN as a pharmacy student in a five-year apprenticeship.
He worked for other firms and then opened his own store in Greencastle in 1861. That same year he married Emily Lemon. In 1861, he joined the Union in the Civil War. He was captain of an artillery unit of 150 men. He was in many battles and was taken prisoner at the Battle of Sulphur Creek. He was later released and promoted to Colonel.
After the battle, he wrote a letter to Nathan Bedford Forrest asking that they suspend fighting. In 1866, he went to Mississippi and began a plantation without slaves. It failed and his wife died of malaria. He moved on to Paris, IL to a drugstore. In 1869, He married Maria Josiah and moved back to Indianapolis, where he started his own company. It was located on Pearl St.
His brother, Jack, became a salesman and his son, Josiah, worked as an apprentice. In 1881, it was incorporated as Eli Lilly & Co. Josiah was sent to the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and returned to start the laboratory to do research, one of the first firms to do so. The emphasis was on quality.
Success followed – first Insulin, then penicillin and later Humulin. Insulin changed the world for diabetics. Allen Clowes brought the compound back from Canada. Col. Eli retired to do philanthropy. He helped build the Water Company, then the Chamber of Commerce, and later founded a small hospital. He helped build the Soldiers & Sailors Monument. Beneath it is the Civil War Museum, one of the best in the country. Col. Eli went on to found the Lilly Endowment with his sons. Col. Eli always cared for his fellow man.
His son, Eli Lilly, was one of the 104 charter members of Scientech Club in 1918.
Richard Gunderman, MD, PhD
