Dr. Aubre de Lambert Maynard, 97, a Surgeon
See the article in its original context from March 23, 1999, Section B, Page 10Buy Reprints
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Dr. Aubre de Lambert Maynard, an authority on surgery to treat heart, chest and abdominal wounds who was credited with saving the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after he was stabbed in 1958, died Saturday at his home on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He was 97.
Dr. Maynard was long associated with Harlem Hospital Medical Center, where he was director emeritus of surgery. The hospital's cardiac operating suite was named in his honor in 1972. He had also been a special lecturer and clinical professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
On Sept. 20, 1958, when Dr. Maynard was chief of surgery at Harlem, Dr. King was stabbed by a deranged woman at a book-signing on 125th Street. During the attack, a steel blade was plunged into Dr. King's chest, where it was firmly lodged in the sternum.
Luckily, no attempt had been made to remove the blade before Dr. Maynard took over in the operating room, as that could have led to a fatal hemorrhage. He carried out the operation under the eyes of many anxious notables, including Gov. W. Averell Harriman of New York.
Aubre Maynard was born in Georgetown, Guyana, on Nov. 17, 1901. He received degrees in mathematics and physics from City College in 1922.
Cautioned that engineering held no prospects for blacks, he then received a medical degree from New York University in 1926, only to find the same racial obstacles at public and voluntary hospitals in the city and around the country.
But Harlem Hospital was then at the heart of a growing black population and Dr. Maynard, placing first in the annual internship examination, won a position there. He was the first black to be hired as an intern at the hospital, and he helped open doors for other blacks in the future.
In 1930, Harlem Hospital became one of the country's first important medical institutions with a racially integrated staff at all levels.
That came about under the leadership of Dr. Louis T. Wright, a graduate of Harvard Medical School and national executive chairman of the N.A.A.C.P. Dr. Maynard, a close associate of Dr. Wright, was a staff surgeon from 1928 to 1952 and then director of surgery until 1967.
He established a division of thoracic surgery and worked on the surgical procedures for lung, esophagus and cardiovascular conditions. The unit established his professional reputation and enhanced the hospital's as well.
In a 1996 interview, Dr. Maynard recalled the pressure surrounding the surgery on Dr. King.
''It was a momentous occasion for Harlem Hospital because it was a man of Dr. King's position who was known all over the world,'' he said. ''For him to be brought to Harlem Hospital for a dangerous thing like that, where his life was at stake, it was a challenge. Could Harlem Hospital show that it was up to this task?''
''You see,'' Dr. Maynard continued, ''it was a city hospital, and it was looked down upon. It was up to me to show the world that it could be done there.''
Dr. King, recovered from his injuries, left the hospital in less than two weeks.
Dr. Maynard was the author of many articles on his specialty and contributed chapters to textbooks. He wrote ''Surgeons to the Poor: The Harlem Hospital Story'' (Appleton, 1978).
His wife, Janine, survives him.
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