Dr. Milton Ettinger, an HCMC pioneer

Dr. Milton Ettinger of Minneapolis, a neurologist who led others to make medical discoveries, was instrumental in turning Minneapolis' Hennepin County Medical Center into the hospital it is today.

The retired chief of neurology, who was a mentor to many physicians at the Medical Center, died May 2 in Minneapolis of meningitis. He was 77.

Ettinger, a graduate of St. Paul's Central High School, completed his medical studies at the University of Minnesota in 1954.

He did his residency at the university's hospital, and from 1958 to 1960 he served in the Air Force as a medical officer. After military service, he returned to the Twin Cities, joining the staff of the old General Hospital, now the Hennepin County Medical Center.

Ettinger and a few others were responsible for getting Hennepin County to take over General Hospital in the early 1960s, said Dr. David Anderson, former chief of neurology of the Medical Center, and now head of neurology at the University of Minnesota.

With others, he was instrumental in getting a new hospital built in the mid-1970s, said Anderson. They also worked hard to get the procedures and funding to install an academic faculty.

"It would all have died without" that group, said Anderson. "He was a master physician and teacher" as well.

In 1994, Ettinger was honored with the American Academy of Neurologists' A.B. Baker Award for lifetime achievement in neurologic education.

He was integral in starting several programs and centers at the hospital, such as the Huntington's Disease Clinic and the medical ethics committee.

He was "singularly responsible" for starting the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorder Center, said Dr. Mark Mahowald, chief of neurology at the hospital and a University of Minnesota professor.

Ettinger launched the successful medical careers of many "who got the limelight that he created," Mahowald said. "He never took the credit."

The Medical Center's multiple roles as a safety-net hospital, its excellent patient care and its teaching and research functions make it one of few of its kind in the nation, Mahowald added.

Ettinger retired in 1995 and enjoyed fishing around the Twin Cities and on Gull Lake near Brainerd.

He loved to teach, and at home, he gently guided his children, said his daughter, Adrienne Baranauskas of Plymouth. "He opened the world to us, but never pushed."

In addition to his daughter, he is survived by his wife of 50 years, Jeanne of Minneapolis; a son, David of Sarasota, Fla.; two brothers, Jay of St. Paul and Shel of Mesa, Ariz.; a sister, Sheila Dansinger of Minneapolis, and two grandchildren.

Services have been held.