William C. E. Pfischner, 2017 May 22

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Identifier: OH-UA-PF0163

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William C. E. Pfischner oral history interview, 2017 May 22

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Scope and Contents

In this interview, Dr. William C.E. Pfischner discusses his thirty-year long career as a doctor for the U.S. Navy and for the Philadelphia Health Department, as well as his association with life partner Dr. Loy H. Witherspoon, founding chair of the Religious Studies department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dr. Pfischner describes his experience working for the Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3 in Cairo, Egypt during the 1950s, where he met Dr. Witherspoon, who was then teaching at the American University of Cairo. He describes Dr. Witherspoon's early life growing up in the Methodist Children's Home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, his work as a United Methodist minister, his close relationship with Bonnie E. Cone, founder of UNC Charlotte, and Dr. Witherspoon's own substantial contributions to the founding of the university.

Dates

Creation: 2017 May 22

Biographical Note

Dr. William C.E. Pfischner was a 94-year-old man at the time of interview, which took place in his home in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1922. He was educated at the University of Pittsburgh and Johns Hopkins University and was employed as a medical doctor for the U.S. Navy and Philadelphia Health Department.