C. William “Bill” Schwab graduated from Ithaca College in 1968 with a degree in Chemistry. After attending medical school at SUNY Upstate Medical University, Schwab served as a military surgeon during the Vietnam War. Schwab started working in trauma care surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has pioneered Damage Control Surgery — which is now a worldwide medical procedure.

Schwab joined the college’s Board of Trustees in 1989 and resigned in 1999 because of a term limit. After he was reelected in 2001, Schwab served as chair of the board from 2006–2012. He was named chair emeritus in 2013.

Schwab will be awarded the Edgar “Dusty” Bredbenner Jr. ’50 Distinguished Alumni Award during the Fall 2023 Alumni weekend Oct. 27–29 for his leadership, vision and impact in trauma care surgery and continued legacy of academic excellence at the college. 

Staff Writer Dominick Petrucci sat down with Schwab to discuss his life work and his experience with the college.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Dominick Petrucci: What does achieving this award mean to you? 

C. William Schwab: My wife Marjorie Anne Rooke won this award back in 2006 for the work that she did with Ithaca with the development officers and one of the vice presidents of development raising the money to expand and modernize the music school and create the [James J. Whalen Center for Music]. Then our son-in-law, who graduated in ’91, went on to be a very successful businessman and won the Young Alumni Award about 10 years later. … My wife’s dad graduated from Ithaca in 1935. That’s 90 years of having her side of the family very involved with Ithaca. … We have a very good relationship with Ithaca College. It’s a unique place in the world and Ithaca College is a very unique, comprehensive college. 

DP: Can you tell me a brief history about Damage Control Surgery?

CWS: I got stationed on an aircraft carrier as an operational duty. One day there was a general quarters and it was way down below the waterline. A damage control party was called overhead with sirens and whistles. All these marines are running by and they’re all carrying rifles and portarms running down. Later I said, “What’s a damage control party?” It was an old British navy term where if a ship took on damage, it was all these people that would go to wherever the damage was and plug up the holes. 

I went to [work at] the University of Pennsylvania and about less than a year after I got there, the first epidemic of gun violence started in the United States in 1989. So the incidents of shock, vascular injuries and bleeding to death went sky high. All of the surgeons were struggling with how to deal with these things. It became very apparent that you needed to do something that was abbreviated surgery. Alright, think of damage control. We really wrote the paper that named it and designed it. These people come in and if they meet certain criteria, you immediately stop the bleeding; you do temporary control of bleeding, and then what you do with the bleeding staunch, you have no more than an hour to get control. It turned out to be very effective and is now a worldwide standard. 

DP: What was your most valuable experience in attending Ithaca College?

CWS: It’s really fascinating, but people at Ithaca College often forget the diversity of study that comes from those five schools and in a limited way, more in the graduate school program. The diversity of these five schools and the type of students that broadened their interests and backgrounds. So wasn’t it fascinating, here I was, a science nerd, dating all through college a performing musician and our best friends were in communications. People take that for granted. It’s not like a liberal arts college or a giant university. It is a very unique atmosphere to not just learn … objective [information], but the subjective learning you get from meeting people with your same interests and understanding that they are as passionate about what they do as you are with what you do — that’s a life lesson. 

DP: What steps are you taking to give back to the community at Ithaca College?

CWS: When there are important strategic narratives, I try to get back and sit in on that. In the 20 plus years I have been involved with not just the normal work of the board, but we built the campus you guys are on. The number of strategic planning sessions, the number of meetings and brainstorming that we did in order to optimize the financial position of the college is just too numerous to count. Watching that, I feel my contribution was to say, “I was the kid that got off the bus in 1964 and this is what it looked like, this is where I think we’re gonna go,” and then saying “How are we gonna get there?” The constant thing the board has to struggle with is how do we do it safely so that the financial situation of the college is not impaired, but in fact can grow over the long term.