William Shippen Sr.

William Shippen Sr. was an American physician from Philadelphia, born on 1 October 1712 and dead on 4 November 1801. He built a large medical practice in the city and was also a civic and educational leader. He joined Benjamin Franklin and others in founding the Public Academy in 1749, served as a trustee of the College of Philadelphia from 1755 to 1779 and of Princeton from 1765 to 1796, and was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1767, serving as its vice president. He taught anatomy and surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, where one of his pupils was the future president William Henry Harrison. Chosen as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1778, he sat in 1779 and 1780 and then returned to his practice, remaining active well into his eighties.