In 1911, a young mechanical engineer named Conrad Jobst came to the United States from Germany to continue his profession as a designer of precision manufacturing equipment. In 1913, he made Toledo, Ohio his home, where he was employed as chief engineer for the Toledo Tap and Dye Corporation. After winning a patent for the first automatic brush-making machine, Mr. Jobst founded the Automatic Brush Machine Company, and served as chief engineer and vice president. He was a production consultant in World Wars I and II, developing gun sights for use in aerial combat and threading tools for automotive equipment. His career earned him more than 40 patents, including the automobile sunroof.

Conrad Jobst suffered from lower extremity venous insufficiency. He often sought relief from the discomfort and swelling in his legs in a swimming pool. Mr. Jobst quickly discerned that elastic stockings could in some ways simulate the hydrostatic pressure of a pool. He subsequently designed the first custom-made elastic stockings. The stockings he made for himself improved his condition dramatically, and shortly thereafter he began mass-production so that others could benefit as well.

Conrad Jobst died in 1957. His wife, Caroline, assumed the presidency of the company for the next 27 years, during which time it became a multinational organization with offices in 33 cities around the world--the largest manufacturer of surgical stockings, pumps, and supports for those afflicted with poor venous circulation in the world.

In 1989, Caroline Jobst established an endowment fund for creation of Jobst Vascular Center at The Toledo Hospital, the Conrad Jobst Vascular Research Laboratories of the University of Michigan, and support for education and research programs of which the annual Conrad Jobst Lectureship is but one example. Caroline Jobst died in 1993. Her philanthropic support of the sciences and arts remains in our institutions as a legacy to this outstanding humanitarian.