Dr. William E. Cunningham Jr.’s friends in the Scufflers Club used to tease him about his dedication to his patients.
“Bill was a very gentlemanly kind of guy who was always very concerned about his patients,” said Richard Clayter, his longtime friend and fellow member of the Scufflers, a club Dr. Cunningham helped found decades ago with a group of other African-American men in Chicago. “We’d be playing cards and he would get a call from the hospital, then run to the phone to give advice and instructions.”
Dr. Cunningham, 83, among the first black physicians to join Michael Reese Hospital and a retired brigadier general in the Illinois National Guard, died of lung cancer Monday, March 8, in Mercy Hospital.
“In the old days, professional men of color had to scuffle to make a living, so that name kind of caught on,” said Clayter, an attorney. “We would meet once a month in each other’s homes because the regular downtown establishments weren’t open to us. We played cards, told stories and just had general camaraderie.”
Dr. Cunningham knew since he was 6 years old that he wanted to be a doctor, his second wife, Dorothy, said. “He loved his profession, and that is why he stayed in it for 50 years. He was just a person who liked people and loved helping them.”
Born in Chicago, his family later moved to North Chicago and he graduated from Waukegan High School. He then received a degree in pre-medicine at Northwestern University in 1942 and his medical degree at the Howard University School of Medicine in 1945.
The following year, he interned at the former Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis, then completed his residency in internal medicine, first at Provident Hospital in Chicago, then Michael Reese.
He joined Michael Reese as an internist in 1949, while also opening a private practice on what later became South King Drive. He later moved to 2930 S. Michigan Ave. He retired from Michael Reese in 1997 as its senior attending internist.
During World War II, while in medical school, he also was part of an Army student-training program whose trainees then became part of the Army Reserve.
During the Korean War, he was called into service as commander of the 184th Medical Collecting Company of the 178th Regimental Combat Team of the Illinois National Guard. The company, an all-black unit, was the first guard unit in the Chicago area to be summoned to active duty. From 1950 to 1952, the guard assigned him as assistant chief, and then chief of medicine, at the 279th General Hospital in Sakai, Japan.
Until his retirement from the guard in 1970 as a brigadier general, he was called on at various times to serve as regimental surgeon, medical battalion commander and division surgeon.
He met his wife, Dorothy, through mutual friends in 1963, a few years after he was divorced from his first wife, Thelma. He and Dorothy married in 1970 and settled in downtown Chicago.
In 1975, he invited Dr. Reuben T. Nichols, at the time a resident at Michael Reese, to train in his practice. Nichols then joined his practice in 1977.
“He was an old-time doctor,” Nichols said. “He made house calls, took all comers, didn’t worry whether they could pay and stayed in the office until everybody was seen. He was very conscientious and caring.”
Other survivors include his daughter, Paula; a brother, Dr. Robert Cunningham; and two sisters, Ruth King and Minnie Cunningham.
A funeral service will be held 10:30 a.m. Saturday in Quinn Chapel AME Church, 2401 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago.
