Dr. William Thomas Love
(1901 – 1966)

Dr. William Thomas Love was born on October 20, 1901 in Wainesville, North Carolina. He attended Knoxville College in Tennessee and Boston College in Massachusetts. He earned a master’s degree in psychology form the University of Michigan in 1926 and entered medical school there, graduating in 1930. Following an internship and residency, he moved to Detroit to open a private practice in 1932.

Dr. Love's hospital practice included serving at several black-owned and-operated facilities, such as Kirwood General, Burton Mercy, and Edyth K. Thomas Memorial hospitals, as well as on the staffs of Woman's (Hutzel) and Grace Hospitals.

Dr. Love was the first African American appointed Medical Examiner for Wayne County. He was appointed Assistant Wayne County Medical Examiner in 1934. Dr. Love's commitment to accurate testimony led him to take classes at the Detroit College of Law, although he never earned a law degree.

In the late 1940s, he helped found The Seminar Society, a group of scholars dedicated to increasing knowledge by researching and writing in fields other than those of their expertise.

Through the years, Dr. Love became interested in infant mortality, especially the phenomenon of crib death, otherwise known as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Dr. Love was a member of the National Medical Association, Wayne County Medical Society, the Detroit Medical Society, Michigan State Medical Society, Omega Psi Phi fraternity, and Sigma Pi Phi Boule, a national honor society.

Dr. Love died in 1966 and is buried in Section 4, Lot 64.