Stanley Elphinstone Kerr (March 30, 1894 – December 14, 1976) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

humanitarian, clinical biochemist and educator.

Life and career

Kerr was the son of a Presbyterian minister and was an inactive member of the Army. A clinical biochemist at Walter Reed Hospital, he left the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1919 to serve as a volunteer for

Near East Relief The Near East Foundation (NEF), founded in 1915 as the American Committee on Armenian Atrocities, later the American Committee for Relief in the Near East (ACRNE), and after that Near East Relief, is a Syracuse, New York-based American internation ...

, an American charity created to help the Armenians. Kerr began his service in

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

during an Armenian refugee crisis when many of the survivors of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

had escaped. He worked as a medical and sanitary officer who cared for the survivors of the march of refugees through the desert. He also worked to recover Armenian children from the

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

and Turkoman families into which they had been forced. In 1921 Kerr and Elsa Reckman joined the staff of a

orphanage for Armenian children at

Nahr Ibrahim The Abraham River (, Nahr Ibrahim) also known as Adonis River (), is a small river in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate in Lebanon, with a length of about . The river emerges from a huge cavern, the Afqa Grotto, nearly above sea level before it dr ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. One of the Armenian refugees was as a flower girl in their wedding in 1922. The orphanage was abandoned in 1923 due to a

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

outbreak. After Kerr earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1925 from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, he and Elsa returned to the Middle East where he accepted the position of chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the American University of Beirut. Elsa Kerr also served on the AUB faculty as Dean of Women students. They had four children: Marion, Dorothy, Douglas, and

Malcolm H. Kerr Malcolm Hooper Kerr (October 8, 1931 – January 18, 1984) was a university professor specializing in the Middle East and the Arab world. An American citizen, he was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, where he died. He served as president o ...

. In 1965, following 40 years of faculty service, Kerr retired with the rank of Distinguished Professor. In recognition of his service, the Republic of Lebanon conferred upon him its

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...

and its

National Order of the Cedar National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

(Chevalier rank). He and Elsa retired to

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

. Kerr published '' The Lions of Marash'' in 1973. Some have deemed that book as "practically required reading for Armenians" since it is a firsthand account of the massacre of the Armenian population in Western Armenia. Kerr died in 1976. He was the father of

, former president of the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...

, and the grandfather of

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

player, general manager, broadcaster, and coach

Steve Kerr Stephen Douglas Kerr (born September 27, 1965) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a nine-time NBA champion, havi ...

References

External links

*Google Books sample of Stanley Kerr'
''The Lions of Marash''
*Kerr mentioned i
Google Books sample of "Starving Armenians" page 92.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Staney 1976 deaths American expatriate academics Academic staff of the American University of Beirut Witnesses of the Armenian genocide Recipients of the Order of Merit (Lebanon) Knights of the National Order of the Cedar 20th-century American physicians 1894 births