Louis W. Sauer

Louis Wendlin Sauer (1885-1980) was a pediatrician who became known for perfecting the vaccine used to prevent pertussis (whooping cough), saving countless lives around the world. Sauer was born in Cincinnati, met his wife Mira while he was in Germany as he was a medical student, and established a practice at Evanston Hospital, in Evanston, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. He earned an MD in Berlin and his PhD at the University of Chicago. He was a founder of The Cradle adoption agency in Evanston. He taught at the Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago. He retired in 1959 to Coral Gables, Florida and died at age 94 of pneumonia and congestive heart failure.