During a ceremony held yesterday, E. Steve Roach, MD, Chief of Neurology and Vice-Chair of Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, was announced as the first recipient of The Robert F. and Edgar T. Wolfe Foundation Chair in Pediatric Neurology. One of a series of endowed chairs to be announced by Nationwide Children’s this month, the Robert F. Wolfe and Edgar T. Wolfe Foundation, a supporting foundation of The Columbus Foundation, was created in 1989 by John W. Wolfe to honor the memory of his grandfather and father, Robert F. Wolfe and Edgar T. Wolfe.
Robert F. Wolfe arrived in Columbus in 1888 and found work as a shoemaker, eventually beginning the successful Wolfe Brothers Shoe Company. In 1903, he bought The Ohio State Journal with his brother, Harry P. Wolfe. In 1905, they acquired The Columbus Dispatch. Robert’s son, Edgar T. Wolfe, Sr., began working for the Journal in 1919 as an advertising solicitor. He later became co-publisher of both the Journal and the Dispatch.
John W. Wolfe, the son of Edgar T. Wolfe, Sr., began his career with Ohio National Bank in 1948. In 1975, he became chairman of the Dispatch Printing Company, parent organization of The Columbus Dispatch. He was appointed to the Governing Committee of The Columbus Foundation in 1984 and provided leadership for decades in the health field in central Ohio.
In 1995, the Wolfe Foundation established four permanent endowment funds, which provides support to Nationwide Children’s Hospital Foundation, COSI Columbus, The McConnell Heart Health Center and The Columbus Foundation.
E. Steve Roach, MD, is also Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology and Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs of the Department of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Roach recently completed a two-year term as president of the Child Neurology Society, the main professional organization of child neurologists in North America. He earlier served for two years as chair of the Pediatric Neurology Section of the American Academy of Neurology.
Dr. Roach is the Editor-in-Chief of Pediatric Neurology and a member of five other journal editorial boards. He has written eight books, including the first textbook on stroke in children, now in its third edition. He also published a textbook on stroke in adults in 2010, and, as a medical student, was co-author of the first book on CT imaging in children. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, foundations, and industry. He has over 200 publications, including over 100 full peer-reviewed papers, some 40 editorials and commentaries, and 56 book chapters.
For clinicians and researchers working in academic-medical institutions like Nationwide Children’s, endowed chairs represent the most prestigious and significant recognition of their work.
E. Steve Roach, MD, Chief of Neurology and Vice-Chair of Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Note to editor: Dr. Roach is a resident of Bexley, OH 43209.