Renal care pioneer Dr. John Bower has made a $250,000 gift to Millsaps College to endow a lecture series commemorating the life of Perry Nussbaum, the rabbi of Jackson's Beth Israel Temple from 1954-1974.
The lecture series has been brewing in Bower's mind since Nussbaum moved to San Diego in 1972; Bower would visit the Rabbi when he was in the area for medical conferences. "I began thinking, here is a man who was willing to focus on issues that were important to all of us, and he was punished for it, and the mere fact that he was right didn't make any difference," Bower said. "I felt very strongly that something should be done to perpetuate his memory."
Beginning with an inaugural address on April 4 by the Reverend Dr. Robert Tabscott, formerly of Jackson and now president of The Elijah P. Lovejoy Society in St. Louis, Mo., the Rabbi Perry E. Nussbaum Lecture Series will be held each year to honor lesser known men and women who stood their ground against racial bigotry and religious prejudice in the South during the Civil Rights Era and today.
Bower, who has a national reputation in nephrology and renal care, completed his medical internship, residency and nephrology fellowship, in addition to spending several years doing research on kidney disease, at the Medical College of Virginia before moving to Jackson in 1965, where he began his career at the University of Mississippi Medical School Hospital. With a three-year public health service grant he received in 1966, Bower conclusively demonstrated that dialysis treatment saved the lives of those who received it, and Medicare was then modified to include treatment of renal disease.
Rabbi Nussbaum used to visit Bower in the basement of the medical center, and those meetings evolved into an enduring friendship. "He taught me much about commitment, about goal-setting and being able to stand the flack," Dr. Bower said of Rabbi Nussbaum. "He was an inspiration to me in developing the kidney program."
In 1973, Dr. Bower established the not-for-profit organization Kidney Care Inc., which he merged with other dialysis facilities to form the Renal Care Group Inc. Proceeds from the transaction went to form the Bower Foundation, an organization committed to improving Mississippi's quality of life and healthcare.
Millsaps College, founded in 1890, is an independent, national liberal arts institution affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Consistently ranked in the top tier of national liberal arts colleges, Millsaps is located in Jackson, Miss., a metropolitan capital city of 425,000. Millsaps College is also the only Mississippi institution featured in the Fiske Guide to Colleges, and is cited as one of Loren Pope's 40 Colleges That Change Lives. Dr. Frances Lucas is president of the college.
