
Teedy Dabney, wife of school founder Dr. John Hilton Knowles and an Honorary Trustee, leaves a legacy of generosity and dedication
The MGH Institute has lost one of the last direct connections to its founding with the passing of Edith L. “Teedy” Dabney.
Dabney, who was 93 when she died in February, had a front-row seat when her husband, Dr. John Hilton Knowles, conceived the idea of creating an “MGH University” during his time as general director of Massachusetts General Hospital in the 1960s and early 1970s. The idea of having a free-standing graduate school affiliated with a medical center was considered a radical idea at the time, but it was one that Knowles was positive could work.
And while the family had moved to New York City and was not on hand to see the IHP become a reality in 1977—just two years before Knowles tragically died at the age of 52 while he was president of the Rockefeller Foundation—the Institute remained near and dear to Dabney’s heart.
“She loved the IHP, she really did,” said her son, John H. “Joe” Knowles Jr. “She was all about education so having a school where people could continue to learn and then go help patients was something she really liked.”
Dabney, who married Lewis Dabney a few years after her late husband’s death, maintained a steady connection to the Institute over the decades. In 1997, the 20th anniversary of the IHP’s founding, she joined the Board of Trustees. The school was at a crossroads at that time, struggling with a budget deficit, an enrollment of just 500 students, and in need of a permanent home. Befitting her constitution as a person who strived to get things done, she joined with Ann Caldwell, who had just come on board as the IHP’s fourth president, to help find such a home.