Simpson Memorial Institute for Medical Research
- Presented to University by Christine McDonald Simpson as a memorial to her husband, Henry.
- Originally offered $150,000 for building and $250,000 for endowment.
- Architect: Albert Kahn
- Building completed on June 29, 1926
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The Simpson Memorial Institute was presented to the University of Michigan by Mrs. Christine Macdonald Simpson, of Detroit, as a memorial to her husband, Thomas Henry Simpson, who died of pernicious anemia in 1923. Mr. Simpson was born in McConnelsville, Ohio, and as a young man entered the business of manufacturing malleable iron in Detroit, in which city he resided until his death. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Simpson decided to erect and endow an institution for the study and care of patients with pernicious anemia and to present this to the University of Michigan.
Mrs. Simpson offered $150,000 for a building and $250,000 as an endowment. It was stipulated that the activities of the Institute should be devoted, primarily, "to the study of pernicious anemia, the alleviation of the suffering of persons afflicted with that disease, and the discovery of a cure for the same." The offer was promptly accepted by the Regents.
Albert Kahn, the architect selected by Mrs. Simpson, completed the plans by
May 22, 1925, and on May 28 the contract was let to the firm of Henry L. Vanderhorst, of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Ground was broken for the building by Mrs. Simpson on June 3, 1925, and thereafter construction progressed at a rapid rate. By June 29, 1926, the building was completed.
Sources: The University of Michigan: An Encyclopedic Survey; Walter A. Donnelly, Wilfred B. Shaw, and Ruth W. Gjelsness, editors; Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 1958