Homer Stryker

Homer Hartman Stryker (November 4, 1894 – May 5, 1980) was an American orthopedic surgeon, inventor, businessman, and the founder of Stryker Corporation. His inventions contributed to orthopedic care, patient comfort, and medical staff convenience.

Early life and education

Stryker was born in Wakeshma Township, Michigan on November 4, 1894, later graduating from Athens High School as part of the class of 1913. Stryker earned his teaching certificate from Western State Normal School in 1916 and taught in a one-room schoolhouse in the Keweenaw Bay school system in the Upper Peninsula before serving in the American infantry in France during World War I.

In 1943, he created his most important invention, an oscillating electric saw "such that the cutter is actuated with a relatively short oscillating stroke of the order of one-eighth of an inch", that cuts and removes casts but would not cut skin. He received a patent in 1947 and the principle is used today in the "Stryker Saw", the standard surgical tool for bone and plaster casts. Stryker's oscillating saw has been the tool of choice for cast removal ever since.

In 1946, he founded Orthopedic Frame Company Inc. to manufacture and sell his inventions, although no patent had yet been granted for his hospital bed. In January 1958, the Orthopedic Frame Company launched the Circ-O-Lectric bed. Stryker Corporation has since grown into a global corporation, and went public on NASDAQ in 1977. Since 1997, Stryker has been traded on the NYSE.

Awards In 1970, he was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Western Michigan University Alumni Association.

In 2014, the Western Michigan University School of Medicine was renamed to the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine after an initially anonymous donation of $100 million was given to the school by Stryker’s granddaughter, Ronda Stryker.

Personal life Stryker married his former French tutor, Mary Jane Underwood, in 1924. They had a son, Lee, and three grandchildren, Pat Stryker, Jon Stryker, and Ronda Stryker.