Dr. Robert E. Appleby (1924 - 1995)
Class of 1942

The life of Dr. Robert E. Appleby was testimony to a determined and disciplined dedication that enabled him to balance a very active pediatric practice in Wilton with civic deeds of unimagined magnitude here and elsewhere.  The root of his service as a physician prompted his founding the Children’s Medical Center storefront clinic in South Norwalk and being advocate for health centers in Norwalk and Brien McMahon High Schools, both of which are named for him.  As a member of the First United Methodist Church, he and his wife, Marjorie Kidd Appleby, established in the southern tier of far-off India, a series of 53 rural, one-room United Methodist Churches and developed Ludhiana Christian Medical College in the Punjab state of India.  He co-founded Action Housing Inc. in 1964 and remained its president until his death, a period in which he guided the construction of 283 units of moderate income housing in Norwalk.  The son of a business man had served with the U. S. Army (1943-46), and had begun his practice in 1954 after taking a medical degree from Johns Hopkins University."