Hunter, John E. [Hunter Foundation (Lexington, KY)]
(born: 1859 - died: 1956)John E. Hunter, from Virginia, was the first African American surgeon at Lexington, KY's St. Joseph Hospital. He also helped found Lexington's Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. Hunter was a graduate of Western Reserve [now Case Western Reserve]. He and Dr. Perry D. Robinson had a practice together. Hunter retired in 1952, after practicing medicine for 63 years; he died in Dayton, OH, in 1956. John Edward Hunter was the father of Bush A. Hunter. The Hunter Foundation for Health Care was a non-profit organization named to honor the 113 years of medical service in Lexington provided by John and Bush Hunter. The organization, founded in the early 1970s, was later renamed Healthcare of the Bluegrass. For more see Kentucky Encyclopedia (2000); and "John E. Hunter" in the Lexington Herald, 11/16/1956, p. 1. See also the Hunter Foundation for Health Care records in Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.