Henry Baird Favill, AB, MD, LL.D., 1860-1916, a ... - University Library

20 HENRY BAIRD FA V ILL
his fight for basic principles, but tactful and receptive in
the discussion of details of plans and methods, he had a
keen sense of discrimination and proportion in distinguishing
the essential from the non-essential points under discussion.
He left the details of the work in hand to those assigned
to that task, and when these were ready for presentation
he was a prince of listeners. Tilted back in his chair, his
fine head thrown far back resting on his clasped hands,
and his gaze fixed on the ceiling, he would listen attentively
to a detailed statement of the items to be considered and
maybe a protracted discussion — and then go direct to the
core of the matter and set forth the real essentials in a
brief, clear, logical statement.
The wide scope of his interests is well exemplified by
his election as president of the National Dairy Council
the year before his death. For him the breeding of
dairy stock was an avocation — a diversion incidental to
an intensely busy life in fines far remote. And yet so live
was his interest in it,
so thorough his mastery of the technical
problems involved, he impressed this considerable
and important group of men who were devoting their
lives exclusively to this industry so strongly, that he was
recognized as a leader among them in their own line of
activity.
His professional attainments were abundantly recognized
by the medical fraternity. He was a member of
many medical societies, local and national, and an officer,
at one time or another, in several.
He lived to see his son, the only child of his union with
Susan Cleveland Pratt, to whom he was married in 1885,
graduated in arts from Yale University, in medicine from
Harvard University, as an intern in the Massachusetts
General Hospital, and finally established in practice with
him and following in his footsteps as a teacher of medicine
in Rush Medical College.
In recognition of the great service of Henry Baird Favill