Schapiro family papers

Dr. Louis Schapiro (May 24, 1886-February 4, 1931) was a medical doctor who served as an international public health and sanitation expert. Schapiro attended the George Washington University School of Medicine, earning his degree in 1903. In 1907, he was appointed Assistant Surgeon for the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in the Philippines (some sources list the name of his ship as the “Pathfinder,” while others reference the “Fathomer.”). In 1910, he resigned to become the Director of Medical Inspection for the Health Department in Manila. While there, he established Bontoc Hospital.

In 1914, Schapiro joined the Rockefeller Foundation as Field Director for the International Health Division. His first posting was in Costa Rica, where he worked to establish a national health service. Schapiro also spent time in Colombia, where he undertook a preliminary public health survey, before moving to Panama. There, he helped organize Panama’s department of hygiene and public health.

Schapiro’s last international posting was Health Adviser to the Siamese (now Thai) government. He established the Demonstration Health Unit at the Bangrak Health Center and worked to improve sanitation conditions in the country. It was in Bangkok that Schapiro died of heart disease on February 4, 1932. While their domicile was listed as Panama City, Panama, on official death paperwork, Schapiro’s wife Matilde was present in Thailand at his death.

Louis Schapiro was born in Russia on May 24, 1886. He came to the United States around 1890 and emigrated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where his father had settled previously.Louis Schapiro married Matilde “Matie” Meyer, and their son Mark Meyer Schapiro was born on November 2, 1913 in Milwaukee. In addition to his medical degree from GW, Schapiro also earned a Doctorate in Public Health from Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1923. Schapiro’s work in Central and South America was praised by Costa Rican newspapers after his death. “La Tribuna” wrote (as translated from the original Spanish) on February 6, 1932 that Schapiro’s “...name is inseparably linked with the progress of the sanitary campaigns destined to stamp out...the endemic diseases...undermining the health of our people.”

Dr. Mark Meyer Schapiro was the son of Mathilde Schapiro and Dr. Louis Schapiro. In 1930, he graduated from Balboa High School in Panama. He attended the University of Chicago, circa 1933, and later the George Washington University Medical College in the mid- to late-1930s. He also attended Johns Hopkins circa 1938. He was a medical doctor, and worked for a time in Honduras.