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Dr. Ira Hirschy was born in Allen County, Indiana, on December 16, 1904. His parents were schoolteachers with 40 acres of Indiana farmland who then moved to a 160 acre Iowa farm. Ira went to Jamestown College in North Dakota where he earned a B.S. in biology. He received his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1933. He interned at Gorgas Hospital, Canal Zone from 1933-34 and The Queen's Hospital, Honolulu, from 1934-36.
Dr. Hirschy was a physician at the Hansen's Disease settlement, Kalaupapa, Molokai, during 1936-41. He earned his Masters degree in public health and epidemiology at the University of Michigan in 1942. He served in the U. S. Army, Zone of the Interior 1942-45, and India-Burma from 1945-46, where he was Chief of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology. He served on the staff of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in China. From 1948 until 1951 he was Chief of the Preventive Medicine Division in Japan. In 1951, Dr. Hirschy was appointed to the position of Medical Director of the Hansen's Disease Division of the Hawaii Territorial Health Department. In 1956, he was Acting Director of the Division of Preventive Medicine of the Health Department and by 1961 he was Chief of the Communicable Disease Division of the Hawaii State Department of Health.
Dr. Hirschy was a member of the American Medical Association, the Hawaii Medical Association, the Honolulu County Medical Society and the American Public Health Association.
On December 31, 1974, Dr. Hirschy retired as Chief, Communicable Disease Division of the State Department of Health. At the testimonial dinner in his honor on January 11, 1975, the following remarks were made. "Patients at Kaulapapa, when interviewed, expressed appreciation for Dr. Hirschy's ability and understanding…His nicknames, 'Great White Father', 'Big Daddy' … those names were given with fondness." [Hawaii Medical Journal, March 1975] At the dinner, Dr. Hirschy spoke about the changes that had occurred in the treatment of Hansen's Disease patients. He reminded the attendees that at Hale Mohalu [the Hansen's Disease facility on Oahu], observations and trials resulted in many of these substantial changes, including the end of isolation and hospitalization of many patients.
Dr. Hirschy had three sons from his first marriage: Gordon, James Conrad and John. He married Emiko Sakurai in the early 1960's. Dr. Ira Hirschy died on December 4, 1991.
Medicine in Hawaii: Oral History Series
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