Necrology

Roswell “Ros” George Daniels '46

Sep. 15, 1924-Nov. 10, 2019

Roswell “Ros” George Daniels ’46, a doctor of occupational medicine of East Peoria, Ill., and formerly of Morton, Ill., was born on Sept. 15, 1924, in Watertown, N.Y., a son of the former Amelia Schwing and George Daniels. He graduated from Watertown High School.

Daniels attended Hamilton for almost two years, pursuing an accelerated program, before joining the Army Special Training Program to study medicine. On the Hill he was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity and received the Benjamin Walworth and the Fayerweather prize scholarships.

Daniels once described his Hamilton years as “[a]n excellent basic education and a gateway to medicine.” Indeed, he went on to earn his M.D. from the Rochester (N.Y.) School of Medicine in 1947. He interned at Bellevue Hospital in New York and completed his residency at Internal Medicine at Brooklyn Hospital from 1947 to 1950. In 1960, he received a doctor of public health degree in occupational medicine from the University of Pittsburgh.

Daniels would spend two decades in the U.S. Army, first participating in the Korean Inchon landing and then serving as a group surgeon in Korea from 1950 to 1951. He also served posts in Maryland, Utah, Okinawa, Washington, D.C., and Heidelberg, Germany. He completed his military career as a commanding officer of the U.S. Army Environmental Hygiene Agency and was honorably discharged as a captain in 1971.

As a civilian, Daniels served as medical director of the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co. in Washington, D.C., from 1971 to 1978, and then worked as the East Peoria plant medical director for the Caterpillar Tractor Co. until his retirement in 1990.

Daniels was a fellow of the American Board of Medical Specialties in Preventive Medicine and Public Health, in addition to Occupational Medicine. He was also a member of the American Public Health Association, among other professional organizations.

During his retirement Daniels worked on the medical staff of OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria and attended pediatric, internal medicine, and neurology grand rounds. He also served for nine years as a board member of the OSF St. Francis Medical Center College of ­Nursing until 2015.

Daniels, who served Hamilton as a class agent and reunion gift committee member, died on Nov. 10, 2019. He was 95. Surviving are his wife, the former Jean Aldag, and a son, daughter, stepson, and stepdaughter. His first wife, the former Beverly Radley, died in 1996.

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