Legendary Doctor William Finlayson Dies at 101

Dr. William Finlayson speaks at the 2019 Milwaukee Black History Month program. Photo from City of Milwaukee City Clerk’s Office, Public Information Division.

At 101 years old, Dr. William Finlayson leaves behind a legacy that touched nearly every corner of Milwaukee.

Tributes poured in Tuesday following news of the pioneering physician’s death Monday, with elected officials and community leaders remembering him as a trailblazer who helped shape Milwaukee.

“For nearly forty years, Dr. William Finlayson dedicated his life to the women of this community, serving as the first Black OB-GYN at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital,” said Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in a statement. “His presence was a testament to the importance of representation in medicine, but his impact extended far beyond the hospital walls.”

Finlayson delivered an estimated 10,000 babies during his career and became one of Milwaukee’s most respected Black physicians after arriving in the city in 1958. A graduate of Morehouse College and Meharry Medical College, he also served in the U.S. Army.

Beyond medicine, Finlayson played a key role in Milwaukee’s civil rights movement, helping bring Martin Luther King Jr., a former classmate, to Milwaukee during the city’s fair housing marches. He also co-founded North Milwaukee State Bank, the city’s first Black-owned bank.

“We are saddened by the passing of Dr. William Finlayson, a giant in the Milwaukee community whose legacy will be felt and celebrated for generations,” members of the Milwaukee Common Council said in a joint statement Tuesday.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson said Milwaukee is “healthier and stronger because of Dr. Finlayson’s work.”

In 2022, Milwaukee renamed a stretch of N. 5th Street through Bronzeville as Dr. William Finlayson Street in honor of the longtime physician and activist. It runs from W. Walnut Street to W. Capitol Drive and parallels streets named for fellow civil rights pioneers Vel Phillips and King.

“With the naming of a prominent street here, his memory is, appropriately, forever part of our city,” said Johnson.

The street passes Finlayson’s first office at W. North Avenue and N. 5th Street. It also passes America’s Black Holocaust Museum. In 2022, Ald. Milele A. Coggs said it was important to honor the doctor while he was alive.

The council statement was issued by Coggs, Andrea Pratt, Mark Chambers Jr., Alex Brower, Lamont Westmoreland, Larresa Taylor, Sharlen P. Moore, José G. Pérez, Scott Spiker, Marina Dimitrijevic and Russell W. Stamper II.

Stamper, a member of Active Phi Alpha alongside Finlayson, gave a tribute to the late doctor on the council floor.

“Your legacy lives on and will never be forgotten, good Doctor,” the Common Council statement concluded. “May you rest in peace.”