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3 2 / TH E E A R LY Y E A R Senthusiasm. Despite the diff e rences in their personalities, noone ever saw them quarre l .“I never knew Bunts as well as the others, for he died early,but I do recall that he never, in my presence at least, displayedthe exuberant type of humor that Crile and Lower did. I haveseen the latter two almost rolling on the floor in laughter asthey reminisced on how they dealt with some ancient enemy,but I could not imagine Bunts doing that. He had the pre s e n c eand dignity that one associates with the image of an old-times e n a t o r. ‘Bunts was invaluable in our association,’ my fatheronce told me. ‘He was the one that gave it re s p e c t a b i l i t y. ’“Phillips, like Bunts, died early, so that I knew him only asmy childhood physician rather than as a personal friend. Myi m p ression was of a man who was silent, confident, and imperturbable.I am sure that his patients and colleagues shared thisconfidence in him and that was why he was able to organize asuccessful department of internal medicine.“Although the personalities of the Clinic’s founders were sod i ff e rent from one another, there were common bonds thatunited them. All had served in the military, all had taught inmedical schools, all were devoted to the practice of medicine.As a result of these common backgrounds and motivations,t h e re emerged a common ideal—an institution in which medicineand surg e ry could be practiced, studied, and taught by ag roup of associated specialists. To create it, the four foundersbegan to plan an institution that would be greater than the sumof its individual parts.”1 An important source for To Act as a Unit was George Crile, An Autobiography, editedwith sidelights by Grace Crile, Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott, 1947. George Crile wasthe author of 650 publications, including several books.2 The State of Ohio recently commemorated this phase of Crile’s career by placing ahistorical marker in Plainfield on June 3, 2001. Near the marker is the grave of Dr.Walker, Crile’s earliest medical mentor.3 This document is now located in the Archives of The Cleveland Clinic.