Faculty Update: Long-Time St. Louis Pediatrician Retires
Dr. Mary Tillman always said she would retire when she had been out of medical school for 50 years. She made it one year past her prediction—on August 1, Dr. Tillman will retire 51 years after graduating from medical school and 48 years after joining the medical staff at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
“I really enjoy the practice of medicine, and it was a pleasure for me to get up and go to work everyday. I guess that’s why I’ve hung on all these years,” says Dr. Tillman, 75. “But I’ve always managed both the medical and business side of my practice, and that has changed so much—today you need to run your practice like a Fortune 500 company. When I started out, the only time there were insurance claims was when patients had to be hospitalized. And many of them didn’t have insurance because that was before Medicaid. So even though you continue to enjoy what you’re doing, there is a time you need to stop. After shedding a tear or two, I realized it was time to go.”
It will be a long time before Dr. Tillman’s patients—and her influence on their lives—will be forgotten, however. She estimates that she’s cared for about 200,000 patients over the years, and in many cases that number includes families bringing four generations of their children to her for care. She refers to them as her extended family and calls them her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“I have known Dr. Mary Anne Tillman all my life,” says Alison Nash, MD, SLCH medical staff president and a private-practice pediatrician. “She is a wonderful friend, mentor and colleague. I have always admired the quiet strength and dignity with which she advocates for the care of children in this community. Dr. Tillman has provided extraordinary care to thousands of children throughout her career. She truly will be missed.”
Dr. Tillman’s ambition to make a difference in the world began when at age 14 her mother passed away. “The last thing she said to me was that I should be a good girl and become a credit to the family by going to college and getting an education,” she says.
She fulfilled her mother’s wish by receiving her medical degree at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and completing her internship and residency at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis. Throughout her career, she worked to improve the lives of children by devoting herself to community causes. Dr. Tillman has served on the board of directors for the Annie Malone Children & Family Service Center since 1976, and she has worked with the March of Dimes National Foundation in the area of adolescent pregnancy. She served six years on the National Committee on Adoptions and Dependent Care for the American Academy of Pediatrics. A feature story on Dr. Tillman appeared in Good Housekeeping magazine, and she received distinguished service awards from Howard University, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and the National Medical Association.
Despite all of her professional accomplishments, Dr. Tillman considers her family as her greatest achievement. She and her husband, retired circuit court judge Daniel Tillman, have two children: their daughter, Dana, an electrical engineer, and their son Daniel Jr., an anesthesiologist. The Tillmans also have a granddaughter who holds a master’s degree in public health, a grandson in his third year of college, and a granddaughter entering kindergarten this fall.
As she anticipates her new life, Dr. Tillman says her main goal is to be a housewife. It doesn’t take her long, however, to define what her version of housewife entails.
“Of course, I’ll keep up with my volunteerism, working with the Annie Malone Center, the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Cote Brilliante Presbyterian Church and some other organizations,” she says. “I’ll travel a bit to my medical and sorority meetings and to visit family.”
And that is retirement, Dr. Tillman style.
