Courtesy / Richard Sawyer Photography
An existing wing at Mercy's Fore River hospital has been named in honor of Dr. Harry E. Davis.
May 22, 2018
Mercy Hospital receives $2.75M gift to advance its consolidation
Photo / Richard Sawyer Photography
Andy Klingenstein, grandson of Dr. Harry E. Davis, speaks at Mercy Hospital's centennial ceremony on Monday at which the hospital announced it had received $2.75 million gift from Klingenstein's family in memory of Davis. The capital campaign commitment is the largest one of its kind in Mercy's 100-year history.
By Staff
At a ceremony Monday marking its centennial, Mercy Hospital announced a $2.75 million capital campaign commitment from the family of Dr. Harry E. Davis, Mercy’s first and longtime chairman of pediatrics. Dr. Davis’s daughter, Patricia Klingenstein — who together with her husband, John, and their children, have supported many efforts to improve health care in Maine — made the gift in memory of her father.
Last year, the hospital launched the “One Mercy” capital campaign to consolidate services and operations on its Fore River campus. The Klingenstein family’s campaign gift is the largest one of its kind in Mercy’s 100-year history.
In recognition of their contribution, an existing wing at Mercy’s Fore River hospital has been named in honor of Dr. Harry E. Davis.
“We are grateful for the Klingensteins’ transformational and historic philanthropic commitment in our centennial year,” said Charlie Therrien, president of Mercy Hospital. “It’s truly an investment in Mercy’s future, the care of our community, and a continuation of their strong partnership with Mercy.”
Longtime pediatrician
Dr. Harry Davis received his medical training from Tufts Medical School in 1919. He interned at the Chelsea Memorial Hospital and later at Children’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. He did postgraduate work in the children’s division of Bellevue Hospital in New York City and returned to Portland in the early 1920s to work as a pediatrician. He served as chief of pediatrics at Mercy Hospital from 1943 until his death in 1963.
“My father loved his patients and his many years of work at Mercy,” Patricia Davis Klingenstein said in a news release. “He had a special bond with the Sisters of Mercy, and he would have been pleased we have honored him during this historic time at a place he loved so very much.”
Founded in 1918 by the Sisters of Mercy to heal those affected by the Spanish flu pandemic and to care for the city’s poor and disadvantaged, Mercy has served as greater Portland’s community hospital for 100 years. Monday’s ceremony is the first in a series of events that are planned throughout the year to commemorate its centennial and to celebrate the hospital’s next century of care.
“Over the last century, philanthropy has been crucial to the fulfillment of the vital community healthcare mission established by the Sisters of Mercy,” said Susan Rouillard, Mercy’s vice president of philanthropy. “The Klingensteins’ remarkable support has improved the quality of life of our patients and will continue to do so in Mercy’s next century of care.”
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