On Tuesday, June 21, 1938, a huge testimonial dinner was held at the Lord Baltimore Hotel to celebrate the 75th birthday of the famous surgeon, Dr. John M.T. Finney. More than 460 guests attended the event, including Mrs. Finney, who was relegated to watching the celebration from a balcony overlooking the dining room.
As part of the evening, Dr. Finney was presented with a bronze bust of himself by the Baltimore sculptor, Hans Schuler. The bust eventually landed at MedChi, where Dr. Finney had been an active member for decades. Additionally, MedChi owns an oil portrait of Dr. Finney in his US Army uniform from the WWI years.
Later in 1938, Dr. Finney and Mr. Schuler were selected as two of the three men who had made the "most significant contributions to the city of Baltimore." The third man was the aviator, Glenn L. Martin.
Hans Schuler's contribution to the city which had been his home for 70 years was a double one," said The Sun in an editorial after the death of the noted sculptor and teacher in 1951.
"There are the many memorials of his design to other men whose fame is part of Baltimore's history -- Sir William Osler, Dr. J. M. T. Finney, Johns Hopkins, Sidney Lanier, Henry Walters, Gen. Sam Smith and so on. And there are the thousands of of graduates of the Maryland Institute whose course and policies he directed for more than a quarter of a century."
Known as "Baltimore's monument maker," Schuler began working in 1906 in his studio-home at 7 East Lafayette Avenue, where for the next 45 years he created statuary and plaques that decorated Baltimore's parks, cemeteries, museums, churches and public buildings.
"Mr. Schuler's work is so widely represented in Baltimore that a tour to see his art would take in most sections of the city," said a 1950 Sun article.
From the Baltimore Sun, Oct. 19, 1997
Fred Rasmussen
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