Royal Samuel COPELAND, Congress, NY (1868-1938)

COPELAND, Royal Samuel, a Senator from New York; born in Dexter, Washtenaw County, Mich., on November 7, 1868; attended the public schools and Michigan State Normal School, Ypsilanti, Mich.; graduated from the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1889; took postgraduate courses in Europe; house surgeon in the University of Michigan Hospital 1889-1890; practiced medicine in Bay City, Mich. 1890-1895; professor in the medical school of the University of Michigan 1895-1908; mayor of Ann Arbor, Mich.1901-1903; president of the park board in 1905 and 1906, and president of the Ann Arbor board of education in 1907 and 1908; member of the Michigan State tuberculosis board of trustees 1900-1908; moved to New York City in 1908; dean of the New York Flower Hospital and Medical College 1908-1918; member of the United States pension examining board in 1917; commissioner of public health and president of the New York Board of Health 1918-1923; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1922; reelected in 1928 and 1934, and served from March 4, 1923, until his death on June 17, 1938, in Washington, D.C.; chairman, Committee on Rules (Seventy-third Congress), Committee on Commerce (Seventy-fourth and Seventy-fifth Congresses); author of several scientific works, nationally known for his writings and radio broadcasts on health problems; unsuccessful candidate for nomination as mayor of New York City in 1937; died in Washington, D.C.; interment in Mahwah Cemetery, Mahwah, N.J.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Potter, Raymond. “Royal Samuel Copeland, 1868-1938: A Physician in Politics.” Ph.D. dissertation, Case Western Reserve, 1967; U.S. Congress. Memorial Services. 76th Cong., 1st sess., 1939. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1939.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present