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INSIDE THE MAYO CLINIC
A Memoir

by John T. Shepherd, M.D.
Foreword by Walter F. Mondale

 The Extraordinary story of a world-class physician born and trained in 
Nothern Ireland who made his mark in Minnesota

John T. Shepherd is an internationally recognized authority on cardiovascular disease whose exemplary career spanned forty-four years at the Mayo Clinic.

The son and grandson of Presbyterian ministers, Dr. Shepherd continues the fine tradition of Irish storytellers, weaving generous portions of Celtic humor with his historic account of the evolution of the Mayo Clinic into the most renowned medical institution in the United States. From his perspectives over time as Dean of the Mayo Medical School, Director of Research, Director of Education, chair of the Board of Development, and member of the Mayo Board of Governors, he relates his unique insights into the clinic through a stream of stories about the people and the development of this cutting-edge institution on the Midwestern prairie.

Recounting the dramatic changes that he has observed as well as help effect, Dr. Shepherd also remarks on the colorful cast of colleagues and characters-from academics to heads of states-who have passed through the Mayo Clinic doors.

W. HARRY DAVIS has been a leading voice for civil rights in his native Minneapolis for more than four decades.  Rising from the impoverished North Side ghetto of his childhood, he became the founding chief executive of the Minneapolis Urban Coalition, a twenty-year member of the city's school board, and one of the first black executives at a major Twin Cities corporation.

Along the way he overcame Polio, became the region's most successful amateur boxing coach, led a historic church merger, founded a bank, served on the U.S. Olympic boxing committee, and campaigned as the city's first black mayoral candidate.

Davis's story serves as a reminder that the civil-rights movement was not confined to places like Selma and Birmingham, but also transformed lives for the better in Minneapolis and around the country.  Told with Davis's characteristic generosity of spirit, it will also inspire hope in anyone who has ever wondered whether life's obstacles can be overcome.

"Harry was willing to be a human bridge between black and white when this city really needed one.  I shudder to think what might have happened if that bridge had not been there."—Former Minneapolis mayor Art Naftalin

Minneapolis native W. Harry Davis overcame poverty, polio, 
and discrimination to become the city's foremost civil rights leader.  

Based on OVERCOMING: The Autobiography of W. Harry Davis, this book for young readers (age 10 and older) is the story of civil rights in Minnesota. Telling his story in his own words, Davis describes the hardships of his growing-up years, the youth boxing program that brought him to local prominence, and his role in breaking down racial barriers in politics and in the city's public schools.

Drivers see only pavement when they cruise past the junction of Olson Memorial Highway and Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis today [writes Davis].   I knew that spot when it was the wild corner of Sixth and Lyndale Avenues North. It was the one place in otherwise quiet Minneapolis where people could come to gamble, get drunk, and do other things that were outlawed during the 1920s. Some people called it the Hellhole. I called it home.

In 2003 the Minneapolis School system named an elementary school in Davis's old neighborhood for him: the new W. Harry Davis Academy. Now in his eightieth year, Harry Davis is a Minnesota treasure. He has probably received more awards for civic  service than any other living Minnesotan.