DeBusk honored as Appalachian hero
Knoxville industrialist Pete DeBusk speaks to the crowd at last Friday night’s Heroes of Southern Appalachia awards banquet at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris after being presented with the award. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
The award presentation and recognition came during a ceremony in the “Heroes” banquet, which is one of the top two fund-raising events held by the museum each year.
Presenting the award to DeBusk was Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice and museum board Chairman Gary Wade. The event was held in the museum’s Heritage Hall in the main building.
DeBusk in 1973 founded Knoxville’s DeRoyal Industries as a medical-device manufacturer, after he had created the first patented orthopedic-cast boot. He later went on to establish the Lincoln Memorial University’s LMU-DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine, in 2007, and also helped create the LMU Duncan School of Law, LMU College of Veterinary Medicine, LMU College of Dental Medicine and the LMU School of Medical Sciences.
Born in Rose Hill, Virginia, earned a bachelor of science in biology from LMU, and as a young pharmaceutical salesman, he created the orthopedic boot.
It’s success led to DeBusk’s “multi-decade career of innovation and product development in the healthcare industry,” the Museum of Appalachia said in an announcement.
What began as a one-room operation in Fountain City, DeRoyal Industries grew to become an international organization with 20 facilities in five countries. Today, the company markets more than 25,000 products in 75 countries, with a workforce of more than 1,900 employees.
“Despite such growth, DeBusk kept DeRoyal headquartered in East Tennessee,” the announcement said.
Information given during the awards presentation Friday night, along with a video about DeBusk shown to the banquet crowd, noted that he grew up in a series of small coal-mining towns that his parents moved to, living in a trailer that they towed from place to place.
In the video, DeBusk’s mother, now deceased, said that he had told her as a boy that he would never work in a coal mine, but would instead “get and education and get a job.”
“In response to a lack of primary care physicians in rural Appalachia, DeBusk spearheaded efforts to build a medical school at his alma mater,” the museum announcement said. “Under [DeBusk’s] leadership as chairman of the Board of Trustees, LMU founded the College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Past recipients of the museum’s “Heroes of Southern Appalachia” award include Alex Haley, Dr. Joe Johnson, Jim Hart, Gen. Carl Stiner and U.S. Sen. Howard Baker.
The award is meant to honor people from Southern Appalachia who exemplify “the characteristics of perseverance, fortitude, self-reliance, and service,” the museum said.
The first Heroes of Southern Appalachia awards were given in November 2019 to Stiner, of LaFollette, and Baker, of Huntsville. That event was held in conjunction with the celebration of the museum’s 50th anniversary.
At that time, Museum of Appalachia President Elaine Irwin Meyer said, “We thought honoring those who truly embody the spirit of the Appalachian people and have fearlessly and selflessly served this region would be a wonderful way to commemorate this milestone anniversary.”
Meyer, the daughter of the late museum founders John Rice Irwin and Elizabeth Irwin, also was on hand for Friday night’s event, held in the museum’s reception hall.
Her daughter, Lindsey Meyer Gallaher, is now president of the museum, and spoke during the awards ceremony.
About 80 people were on hand for the $250-a-plate dinner.
