As dean of the medical school, William E. Laupus, M.D. brought good will and trust between the hospital and its academic kinsman next door.

Keeping a healthy bond between them proved one of the biggest challenges of his career, he remembers. In the mid-1970s, when he arrived at ECU, "town-gown" struggles pitting private-practice physicians against their academic counterparts were widespread. To replace animosity with respect, Laupus was open, friendly and flexible - yet he got the job done.

"I am personally very proud of the way it came together," he says. "And I don't think it would have come together without me."

Understanding from the start that the hospital needed to become a regional center, Laupus offered generosity in finances and leadership. Working closely with hospital President Jack Richardson, he aimed to create a dynamic teaching site. One of the dean's first steps was to learn what the doctors needed - and to find a way to buy it. That allowed hospital leaders to see the benefit of serving as a teaching institution.

"In order to set up as a regional hospital, we had to get the hospital fully in the teaching camp," he says. At the time, many medical schools incited conflicts with local hospitals when they tried to dominate them, such as by restricting chief of staff roles to faculty. "It just happened that I was looking at things differently than other med schools were doing it," he recalls.

Born in Indiana, Laupus received his B.S. and M.D. degrees from Yale University before completing his internship and residency at Cornell Medical Center in New York. Medical professionals moved frequently in those days, he remembers. At Cornell, he became the director of the Institutes in Care of Premature Infants and later, went on to become the director of pediatric cardiology at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. At the Medical College of Virginia, he was chairman of the Department of Pediatrics as well as pediatrician-in-chief.

"I had been involved in some of the roughest programs with respect to town-and-gown fights," he remembers. "It was a war in this country." Leaving Richmond brought the Laupus family closer to home, as his wife, Evelyn, was originally from Ahoskie.

His many roles at the ECU School of Medicine evolved from his 1975 appointment as first dean of the four-year medical school. In 1975 he was also chairman of pediatrics and a professor in the department. In addition, in 1982 he became vice chancellor and in 1987, vice chancellor for health sciences.

During that time, the medical school grew from its outpost in Ragsdale Hall on the main campus, to a modern nine-story tower adjacent to the hospital. The first class numbered 28; in 2000, more than 72 graduated. The faculty grew from 13 in 1975 to 49 in 1977. In 2000, 420 were faculty.

He helped recruit talented people who shared a sense of mission for the medical school and for the people it served. Among his early staff were surgeon Walter Pories, M.D., internal medicine physician Eugene D. Furth, M.D. and oncologists Spencer and Mary Raab, M.D.

The school's clinical and educational advancements include a nationally recognized program in family medicine, as well as acclaim for surgical and medical innovations.

This growth took place with the hospital acting as a sympathetic, but independent, ally. The Affiliation Agreement, which he helped create, joined the hospital and medical school and received approval in December 1975. It holds considerable credit for this good rapport and serves as a national model. It amicably linked private and academic physicians and codified the use of shared clinical resources and finances.

A common mission helped assure a stable marriage, but Laupus' character inspired friendly relations across the state. "I think the key to the whole business was bringing Bill Laupus here," William Friday, former UNC System President, said in a 1992 interview. "His temperament, his background, his method of working - I trusted him."

Laupus agrees the personal helped the professional. He especially remembers having a good rapport with then-hospital President Richardson from the start. "Jack and I hit it off," he says. "Maybe it was because both of our fathers owned hardware stores."

He resigned as dean and vice chancellor in 1989, but has remained close to the medical community. "This is a very different hospital than you could find anywhere else," he says. "It's a hospital that does what it says it's going to do. And if we say we're going to put in service, it's for the people of the east

William E. Laupus, MD