Each year, L. Carter Gray, MD ’99, helps carry on her family’s legacy at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
As an alumna and a descendant of the Gray family that founded the four-year medical school, she helps induct a new class of alumni into the Bowman Gray Society, which honors graduates as part of their 50th reunion activities.
“The way the school has chosen to honor the name with this society is great,” she says. “It honors our profession and reminds us as a school of where we came from, what we’ve done and where we’re going.”
She also serves on the school’s Medical Alumni Association (MAA) Board and on its Executive and Philanthropy committees, and participates in MAA Career Symposiums, sharing career advice with third-year students. Students may also recognize her name from the Lindsay Carter Gray MD Scholarship, which her grandfather, James A. Gray Jr., established as a graduation gift for her.
“To me, health care is one of the biggest ways I can serve, by taking care of patients or by teaching,” says Carter, who works as an OB/GYN in Raleigh. “When you are a resident or an attending, you teach every day. I teach my patients. I teach nurses. Now I get to serve Wake Forest. I do not have the deep pockets of my forebears, but I do give and I also volunteer, and in a way, that keeps this legacy going.”
The Legacy’s Roots
The legacy dates to the 1935 death of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco executive Bowman Gray Sr. He left a trust fund valued at $750,000 to be used to help a charitable endeavor in Winston-Salem. His family was left to decide exactly how to use the money.
They decided that creating a four-year medical school in the city would be best. They succeeded in convincing leaders at Wake Forest College to move their medical school to Winston-Salem, creating the Bowman Gray School of Medicine. Partnered with North Carolina Baptist Hospital, the school grew, with substantial help from the Gray family, whose members served as an advisory group and helped fill funding gaps.
Bowman’s widow, Nathalie, gave land and buildings, including Graylyn Estate. Sons Bowman Jr. and Gordon established trusts benefitting the school. And Bowman’s brother, James A. Gray, set up a $1.7 million trust to benefit 11 North Carolina colleges and universities, with the School of Medicine getting the biggest share, $900,000.
In 2017, Carter’s father, James Gray III, working part time in the Office of Philanthropy and Alumni Relations, created the Bowman and James Gray Medical School Scholarship. The family provided the initial seed money. It is now one of the largest scholarships at the school.
The First Student From the Gray Family
It was 1976 before a Gray family member attended the school. Edward “Ward” N. Robinson Jr., MD ’79, MPH, says he did not want to rely on his family connection and was relieved to have been invited to attend another medical school before accepting his spot at Bowman Gray School of Medicine.
“Not many people in my class knew I was the first Gray descendant to make it into the school,” says Robinson, whose mother was Pauline Gray Robinson, daughter of James A. Gray Jr. and Bowman Gray’s niece. “I did not want the opportunity to go to the Bowman Gray School to be a gift. I wanted it to be earned.”
Robinson met his wife, Pamela Pittman, MD ’79, at the school, and their son, Patrick Edward Robinson, MD ’14, also earned his way to the medical school. Ward says he confessed his Gray family legacy during his 45th class reunion. He was relieved to learn that none of his classmates attending the reunion knew that he was the first Gray family member to graduate from the school.
“Being a Robinson going to Bowman Gray School of Medicine meant I could be anonymous,” he says. “Living in Winston-Salem, I think a lot of my professors were friends with my parents, but it rarely came up in conversation. Most of my classmates never knew because I was not going to mention it. I wanted to make sure that whatever I did in terms of success or failure was on me, not on my heritage.”
Robinson specialized in infectious diseases and public health. He eventually retired as clinical professor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Wake Forest medical schools and as adjunct professor of public health at UNC Greensboro. He was a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America and the Infectious Disease Society of America. And most of all, he remains “tremendously proud of my family’s legacy and what it has given to the medical school over the years.”
“I loved being a part of the Bowman Gray School of Medicine,” says Robinson. “I met the love of my life there. Some of my best friends are my classmates. We built a tribe that has survived half a century.” The school his ancestors founded had the same impact on him as it did on so many other alumni. “I would not be who I am now,” he says, “if not for that school.”
Remembering Bo Gray
Last May, the family lost one of its members, when Bowman “Bo” Gray IV died. Although born in Winston-Salem, he lived for many years in Minnesota before returning to his hometown for the last several years of his life. He was passionate about community service and generously raised money for numerous local organizations.
Carter got to know her cousin, Bo, after he moved back to the city. They took part in the annual Bowman Gray Society presentations, addressing the alumni and presenting medallions to each class member.
“To get back in touch with your roots the way Bo did is a good thing,” she says. “I think seeing what our forebears have done and how their legacy has continued makes you even more excited about the legacy.”
In 2025, the Bowman Gray Society will expand to include graduates of the school’s PA Program at a special induction program in the spring. Those presentations help the family legacy live on, as does the Bowman Gray Center for Medical Education, the building where the school’s medical students attend classes in Winston-Salem.
“In the beginning, it was about starting a little school in Winston-Salem because we needed better health care in our community,” she says. “Now, it is the academic core of Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit health system in the country. That is wild to think about. I think the core values that remain and the quality it provides are what count most.”