Awards

Honorary Degree - 1949

LL.D.

Doctor of Laws

Cornerstone laying, Research wing, Riley Hospital

Indianapolis, Indiana

Presenter: Herman B Wells

About Arthur R. Baxter

Arthur Reyburn Baxter dominated Indianapolis industrial and civic life for more than five decades. Baxter purchased the Keyless Lock Company from his uncle, Arthur Jordan, a successful entrepreneur and business and civic leader. However, it was Baxter’s idea to make and lease steel post office boxes with combinations to the government nationwide that brought Keyless Lock great financial success. Baxter was married to Francis Delight Doyle Baxter and together, they co-founded the Baxter Foundation and made many contributions to Indianapolis. The Baxter family name went on to become extremely significant throughout the history of Riley Hospital for Children.

Baxter was an early leader of the Riley Memorial Association (now the Riley Children’s Foundation), and in 1926 was invited to serve on the Joint Executive Committee. He was later named the first Life Governor of the Association. Baxter headed the Rotary Club fund to build the Rotary Building as a convalescent wing of the hospital, serving also as chairman of the finance committee of the association. Shortly before Francis’ passing, the Baxter foundation announced a $500,000 gift to the association to construct a “mother’s pavilion” to allow mothers to stay at the hospital to provide care for their children. They continued to make generous grants totaling to $1.5 million for the construction of a new 5-story hospital addition, the Frances D Baxter Memorial Wing. The new addition’s groundbreaking celebration occurred on June 19, 1967, and the building that the Baxter Foundation’s funding supported was dedicated and opened in April of 1971. The innovative Baxter Parent Care Pavilion, a 12-room unit, officially opened on October 6, 1971. The pavilion helped families adjust and hospital physicians to see the worth of having their patients going there before going home. Patient days in the hospital were saved and concerns of parents to physicians following discharge were reduced. The Riley Parent Care Unit was one of the first units like that in the country and was frequently visited by others seeking to start up similar programs in their hospitals. Bob Baxter, the grandson of Arthur Reyburn Baxter and Francis Delight Doyle Baxter, carried on the Baxter family legacy of leadership by serving as a member of the association’s board and as Executive Director and President of the Association from 1991-1996. He referred to the Baxter Parent Care Pavilion as representative of the cornerstone of Riley Hospital’s commitment to the practice of family-centered care.

Indiana University awarded Baxter an Honorary Doctor of Laws in 1949, during a ceremony dedicating the cornerstone of the new Riley Research Wing. The honorary degree is the highest academic recognition Indiana University can bestow, awarded to individuals who have demonstrated excellence in professional achievement and public service. At the time, Dean Stith Thompson honored Baxter with the recognition that he was one of only three men living who had served the Riley Board of Governors throughout its existence. Arthur Rayburn Baxter’s love of children and Riley Hospital from its early beginning became a lifelong commitment of contributions, and his legacy would continue to advance medical care for years to come.