Surgeon Helped Howard University Grow

William E. Matory Sr., 80, a surgeon and professor who made many contributions to Howard University's medical school and who was a national leader in continuing medical education, died Jan. 26 of heart disease at Howard University Hospital. He lived in Washington.

Dr. Matory had a general surgery practice for almost 40 years, trained more than 4,000 future doctors at Howard's College of Medicine, launched an innovative series of instructional films for surgeons and introduced programs in disciplines as diverse as emergency care, kidney disease and family medicine.

As a surgeon, Dr. Matory specialized in trauma care, the treatment of colorectal cancer and caring for burn victims with plastic surgery. He was director of emergency care at Howard University Hospital from 1960 to 1982 and led efforts to reorganize emergency room procedures throughout the Washington area.

In 1966, after undergoing special training in renal medicine, Dr. Matory established Howard's dialysis program. Four years later, even as he worked as a full-time surgeon and professor, he founded Howard's program in family medicine. He became a board-certified family practice specialist and chaired the program for nine years.

Dr. Matory also co-founded the university's physician assistant training program in 1972 and developed a basic surgery course, surgical pathophysiology, which he taught for more than 30 years.

"I believe he made a broader array of contributions to the College of Medicine than any other person in the modern era," said LaSalle D. Leffall Jr., who was chairman of Howard's department of surgery from 1970 to 1995 and knew Dr. Matory for 60 years. "He would see something that needed to be done, and he would do it."

In 1965, Dr. Matory established Howard's program of continuing medical education, or CME, which provides training for mid-career medical professionals. It was among the first programs of its kind in the region, and Dr. Matory remained its director until 2003.

From 1977 until his death, he was the head of continuing medical education for the National Medical Association, the country's largest organization of African American physicians. He led efforts to expand the association's outreach throughout the Caribbean and to emphasize the treatment of malaria and other tropical diseases.

In the 1960s, Dr. Matory began making a series of instructional films of advanced surgical techniques that showcased his skills and those of other black surgeons. He presented the films, which eventually numbered more than 130, at meetings of the American College of Surgeons. Thirty years later, he was at the forefront of efforts to provide accredited medical education on television.

Edward E. Cornwell III, chairman of surgery at Howard, said in a statement that Dr. Matory was "an icon in American surgery that transcends all barriers of race, gender and ethnicity."

William Earle Matory was born Oct. 1, 1928, in East St. Louis, Ill. His father ran a shoe repair shop. Dr. Matory was 3 when his mother died, and he went to live with an aunt in Mississippi.

While carrying an ax in a field one day, he later recalled, he was frightened by a snake and dropped the ax. He ran home and confessed to his aunt that he had lost the ax.