Ed Monroe, longtime health care advocate, dies
Dr. Edwin W. “Ed” Monroe, a physician who went from private practice to helping build the School of Allied Health Sciences and School of Medicine at East Carolina University, died Sunday. He was 90.
Monroe came to Greenville in 1956 to be a “nose-to-the-grindstone internal medicine specialist,” he said in a 2000 interview. His goal was short-lived, as he quickly got involved in East Carolina’s efforts to establish a medical school and other health sciences programs.
Dr. Edwin W. “Ed” Monroe. (contributed photo)
In 1968, he became founding dean of the School of Allied Health and Social Professions. From that post, he lobbied for a four-year medical school at ECU and helped prepare the academic foundation for it.
In 1974, he became president of the Eastern Area Health Education Center; its conference center is named for him. During that time, he also served as director and then vice chancellor for health affairs at ECU, as associate dean of the School of Medicine from 1979-1986 and executive dean from 1986-1990, when he retired.
“Known for his candor, Dr. Monroe was a fierce advocate for our medical school in its creation and its infancy,” said Dr. Paul Cunningham, who retired as dean of ECU’s medical school last year and served on the faculty in the 1980s. “As a man of principle, he did not shy away from the call for service as a leader. He was motivated by the great potential value of the work. He fervently worked for the improvement of the health of the citizens of the region. Personally, I will miss him as a mentor and a friend.”
As leader of EAHEC, Monroe helped develop outreach programs such as an off-campus bachelor of science in nursing degree as well as community medical residencies, allowing young doctors to experience the demands of a rural practice.
“Conceptually, it was a great vision,” Monroe said in 2000. “Trying to translate that into reality took a degree of stubbornness. It’s always refreshing when others come around to the realization of what we’re trying to do.”
After retiring from ECU, he went to Winston-Salem to reorganize the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. But he wasn’t done in eastern North Carolina. From 2000-2001, he chaired the boards of what are now Vidant Health and Vidant Medical Center during a time of rapid expansion of the system.
A native of Laurinburg, Monroe received his bachelor’s degree at Davidson College in 1947, attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s two-year School of Medicine from 1947 to 1949 and earned his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1951. He interned at the Medical College of Virginia and was a resident in internal medicine at the then-new N.C. Memorial Hospital at UNC from 1952-1956.
After that, he swore to himself he’d never have anything to do with a new hospital or medical program again. But the call to service was too strong.
“Deep down inside, a doctor has an innate desire to serve and to take care of people,” Monroe said in 2000. “They know they exist only to take care of people. That’s just as true today as 40 or 50 years ago.”
He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Nancy, a granddaughter and two great-grandchildren. Memorials may be made to ECU Medical & Health Sciences Foundation, 525 Moye Blvd., Greenville, N.C. 27834.
-by Doug Boyd