The walls of the University of Rochester Medical Center are covered with plaques, portraits, and photographs placed as tributes to former faculty members, division chiefs, chairs, and deans. Every day of our tenures as faculty members we walk by these remembrances, knowing few if any of them or the many people who worked with them from personal experience. We know very little about these people, some or all of whom played a role in making the Medical Center what it is today.

One of us (Dr. Davidson) is now retired and living in Hilton Head, South Carolina, where he and his wife belong to the World Affairs Council of Hilton Head. This chapter of a nationwide organization sponsors lectures each year for its members. They recently attended a lecture given by Christopher Alexander, a Canadian diplomat and politician. In describing the importance of Quebec to the taxation rules imposed by King George III on the US colonies that eventuated in the Declaration of Independence, he said the taxation legislation “annoyed” George Washington. It’s not that interesting, they thought. The only things we know about George Washington are garnered from pictures, movies, and books. They realized they knew nothing about the man himself, his feelings, motivations, and what drove him and others who are our founders to do what they did.

It has been 72 years since intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) services were first offered to the community by the Medical Center. Very few people who knew, worked with, or learned from those who started these efforts remain to tell us their feelings, motivations, and what drove them. One of these people is Dr. Neal McNabb. He recently asked Dr. Davidson, “Can I share your manuscript with others in the community?” Dr. Davidson said, “No, it must remain embargoed until published.” Dr. McNabb replied, “Hurry up.”

We think Dr. McNabb's admonishment was prophetic. We wrote this book to provide readers with some insight into how Rochester's program in IDD began and evolved. But even more important than that, is what moved the founders of this remarkable program to see it through, what vicissitudes of fortune made it possible to move forward, and why they stuck it out.