He's a farm boy from Millersport, Ohio, who wanted to go to West Point. He still likes to pretend that he's just a simple rural lad. Neither of his parents had attended college—the Depression of '93 kept them on the farm—nor had anyone from his high school. He's the first physician in his family, but not the last. His brother, eight years younger, is a surgeon, as is his son, with whom he wrote and edited the fourth edition of the surgical Bible, The Atlas of Surgical Operations. Although he changed his mind about West Point, survivors of his rigorous surgical service at Ohio State maintain that West Point must be easier.
He is Robert M. Zollinger, MD, professor and chairman emeritus, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Ohio State University at Columbus. And although a pride of awards crowds his curriculum vitae, his greatest honor is listed nowhere: He