Ben Taub was a Houston philanthropist (Texas Medical Center image)
One thing Houston is known for is the Texas Medical Center. Ben Taub Hospital, located in the center, is an elite Level 1 trauma center owned and operated by the Harris Health System. The staff includes faculty, residents, and students from Baylor College of Medicine and serves as a teaching facility.
Ben Taub Hospital is one of three Level 1 trauma centers in Southeast Texas along with nearby Memorial Hermann Hospital and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. The hospital is one of the busiest trauma centers in the United States. It has a psychiatric emergency room that is open 24 hours a day.
Besides having outstanding emergency and acute care, stroke, and trauma services, the hospital offers a variety of medical specialties. Those include cardiology, neonatology, ophthalmology, and pulmonary care.
The first Ben Taub Hospital opened in May, 1963, but it closed when the new hospital opened on January 12, 1990.
The hospital’s namesake, medical benefactor and philanthropist Ben Taub, was born in 1889 in Houston. His father, Jacob Nathan Taub, was an Hungarian immigrant who became a tobacco wholesaler when in 1882 he came to Texas. After serving in France during World War I, Ben Taub worked in the family business and later became a real estate developer. During his lifetime Ben Taub served on the board of directors of many institutions. He donated 35 acres in 1936 for the establishment of the University of Houston. He helped in the operation of the Depelchin Faith Home for homeless children. For a time, he served as director of the Texas Medical Center.
Ben Taub never married and spent time visiting patients in the county hospital. He died in September 1982 at age 92.
