Dr. Monroe E. Trout

Dr. Monroe Eugene Trout, Sr, age 92, died peacefully at his home in Appleton, WI on March 4, 2024, with his wife Sandra and son Monroe Jr. by his side. Monroe Sr. was born in Harrisburg, PA on April 5, 1931, one of fourteen children born to the late David M. Trout and Florence M. (Kashner) Trout.

Monroe graduated from William Penn High School in 1949 as the Salutatorian, and then received his undergraduate degree and medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Following the receipt of his medical degree he immediately entered the U.S. Navy where he served at Great Lakes Naval Hospital and then as Regimental Surgeon of the Third Marines in Okinawa, and then at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia.

He met his future wife, Sandra Lemke, of Appleton Wisconsin, while serving at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital. Monroe and his beloved Sandra married on June 11, 1960.

After his service in the Navy and Marines Corps, Monroe entered Dickinson Law School, where he was both a student and taught a course in Legal Medicine. At the same time, he was also Chief of Medicine at Harrisburg State Hospital.

Following his law school graduation, he went to work for Pfizer, Inc., where he became head of their Washington DC office. In 1968, he became Vice President and Medical Director of Winthrop Labs, a division of Sterling Drug, Inc. He went on to become Senior V.P. for all medical affairs and worldwide research and a member of Sterling's Board of Directors and executive committee.

In 1986 Monroe retired from Sterling Drug Inc. and became CEO of American Health Care Systems. He helped build American Healthcare Systems into a powerhouse with over 1400 hospital systems.

Dr. Trout also served on the Board of Directors of 21 corporations and over 50 charities. He was the lead director of SAIC, Baxter International and West Pharmaceutical Services, and was a trustee of the Cleveland Clinic, Albany Medical School, UCSD Medical Center, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Knoxville Opera and Symphony and the Baptist Medical Center Foundation in Knoxville, TN.

He and Sandra endowed professorships in Pharmacology and Surgery at the University of California San Diego (UCSD); three chairs in vision research at the University of Wisconsin Madison; the Directors and Curator's position at the National Churchill Museum in Fulton, MO; the maestro's position in the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra; scholarships at the University of the Cumberlands in KY, Fox Valley Lutheran High School in Appleton, Bloomfield College in NJ, Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA, and tuition assistance programs at St. Peter's and St. Paul's Lutheran schools.

He and Sandra also endowed the University of the Cumberlands Mountain Outreach Program to build new houses for the poor in Appalachia. They also endowed the curator and director's position of the Churchill Museum in Fulton, MO. In 2010 he and Sandra endowed the Appleton Art Center which was renamed the Trout Museum of Art. Monroe and Sandra also endowed a scholarship at the University of the Cumberlands, as well as a new children's channel for Wisconsin Public Television, in honor of their deceased son Timothy William.

Dr. Trout served on several government committees related to healthcare and was the author of several medical book chapters and over 190 papers on medical and legal subjects. He has lectured in Australia, South Africa, Belgium, and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. In the U.S. he has lectured at NYU; Dickinson School of Law, UCSD, and the American College of Surgeons.

Monroe received many honors and awards including the Horatio Alger award, the National Caring Award of the Salvation Army, and the Gold Cane award from the American College of Legal Medicine where he served as President. He also received honorary PhD's from Bloomfield College in NJ, University of the Cumberlands in KY and the Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, PA., and the civis univeritatus and honorary alumnus awards from UCSD.

Monroe is survived by Sandra his beloved wife of 63 years, his eldest son Monroe Jr and his daughter-in-law Christine. Monroe Sr is also survived by four grandchildren: a son and daughter from Monroe and Christine, and two sons from Monroe Sr's predeceased younger son, Timothy William, and Timothy's partner Susan DiSilva.

Monroe is also survived by his siblings Harold, Theodore, Hazel, Pauline along with numerous nieces and nephews. Monroe was predeceased by his siblings Helen, David, Chester, Robert, Elizabeth, Herman, Charles, Arthur, and William.

There will be a private funeral service for family members only at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Appleton with military honors provided by the VFW Post in Freedom, Wisconsin. Monroe will then be placed at rest in the mausoleum at Highland Memorial Park in Appleton, WI.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Timothy Trout Sports Center at Fox Valley Lutheran High School or to the Trout Museum of Art, both in Appleton, WI.