Levi Cooper Lane

Levi Cooper Lane (May 9, 1828 – February 9, 1902) was an American physician and surgeon. He established the Cooper Medical College, forerunner to the Stanford University School of Medicine, as well as laying the groundwork for Stanford's medical library and the Stanford School of Nursing. The university's medical library is still named Lane Medical Library in his honor.

Early life and education Lane was born in Somerville, Ohio on May 9, 1828. He attended Farmer's College near Cincinnati and received an MA degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

He received a medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1851. He interned for four years and then served in the U.S. Navy as an Assistant Surgeon from 1855 to 1859. Cooper served as president and chief surgeon; Lane became a faculty member.

After Cooper's death in 1862, the Medical Department ceased operation. Lane and other faculty members began teaching at the newly established Toland Medical College (later the University of California, San Francisco) instead.

Lane married Pauline C. Sampson in 1870.

Later career Lane wanted to revive his uncle's college and in 1870 he succeeded in reopening it. He served as president and recruited some of Cooper's former faculty members as instructors. The school was affiliated with University College, later the San Francisco Theological Seminary, and the name was changed to the Medical College of the Pacific.

Lane had bigger plans for the school, and in 1882 he renamed it Cooper Medical College, after his uncle, the founder. He moved it to a new brick building at Sacramento and Webster Streets which he had personally financed. He also built Lane Hospital and a nursing school, and made provision in his will for the construction of a freestanding medical library.

Death and legacy Lane died in San Francisco on February 9, 1902, and his widow died that August; one third of Lane's estate was bequeathed to Cooper Medical College to establish a medical library. Lane Library was dedicated November 3, 1912, on the southeast corner of Webster and Sacramento Streets, across the street from the medical school. By then the medical school had become the Stanford University Department of Medicine. The medical school and Lane Library were moved to the main Stanford campus in 1959.