Prominent NYC surgeon and instructor from a small Iowa town support biomedical research through fund at The Trust.
Helen H. O’Connor (1898-1975)
Dr. Harry Allen Durfee O’Connor (1895-1945)
Dr. Harry O’Connor was a prominent 50-year-old surgeon who mysteriously drowned in the East River after setting out for a walk on a late-November morning in 1945. There were no marks of violence. He had $90 in his pockets and an expensive watch that was still ticking accurately. Police quoted Helen as saying, “We did not have any financial difficulties or marital differences.”
The circumstances surrounding his death remain a mystery.
Three years earlier, Harry had helped save the life of the president’s son and namesake. In February 1942, Harry was on call at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Brooklyn when Lt. Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. was admitted for an emergency appendectomy. The surgery was successful, and Harry told the Associated Press that Franklin was “in fine condition.” However, the young lieutenant was heatedly criticized by New York Rep. William P. Pheiffer for taking a month-long shore leave to recuperate. Pheiffer pointed out that a soldier from a poor family would’ve been given only a couple days to regain his sea legs.
Harry Allen Duree O’Connor was born September 29, 1895, in Traer, Iowa, to John B. O’Connor and the former Myrtle Durfee. Harry received a bachelor’s degree from New York University in 1920 and a medical degree from New York University Medical College the following year. He was an intern at Bellevue until 1923, then became a resident gynecologist and assistant visiting surgeon. In 1941 he was promoted to visiting surgeon. From 1926 to 1945, Harry was a faculty member of the New York University Medical College.
Helen Huthsteiner was born in Tell City, Indiana, in March 1898 to Gustave Huthsteiner and the former Louise Ludwig. She and Harry married in February 1925 in Manhattan. After his stint at the Naval Hospital in Brooklyn, Harry was sent to the Pacific Theater in February 1945, and left active duty about seven months later.
On November 21, 1945, he and Helen moved back to Manhattan to stay with friends and look for an apartment. Harry had just been appointed assistant professor of clinical surgery by New York University.
A week later, he went out for a walk around 7 am, according to an employee at the apartment building where they were staying. Two hours later, his body was discovered floating in the East River at 70th Street and East River Drive. He was pulled from the water by a tugboat operator and identified by a neighborhood patrolman. “That’s Dr. O’Connor,” the officer said. “He operated on my wife for appendicitis.”
The superintendent of Bellevue Hospital, Dr. William Jacobs, called Harry “one of the outstanding surgeons in the country.”
Helen moved to Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan and never remarried. She died in July 1975 at age 77.
The Traer Fund Helen established at The Trust supports medical research, including but not limited to, clinical, epidemiological, or policy research or demonstration projects. The fund’s name is a reminder of the rural Iowa community where Harry grew up.