The Howard Graney Surgical Fund
Building Exceptional Osteopathic Surgeons — Together
Continue the Legacy, Support Future Surgeons
Howard Graney, DO’33, poured his life into shaping surgeons who could operate with both extraordinary skill and extraordinary humanity. Today, his legacy lives on through the Howard Graney Surgical Fund, dedicated to supporting the kind of hands-on learning, mentorship and advanced surgical training that turns promising students into outstanding osteopathic surgeons.
Make a Gift
When you support the Howard Graney Surgical Fund, you won’t just be honoring a legacy, you’ll extend it. You’ll equip students with the excellence Dr. Graney embodied and launch the next generation of compassionate, highly skilled osteopathic surgeons.
Why Your Gift Matters
When you give to the Howard Graney Surgical Fund, you strengthen the rigorous surgical preparation that helps DMU students:
- Exceed national board examination pass rates
- Earn highly competitive residencies
- Serve communities with the compassion and humility Dr. Graney embodied
You’ve been exactly where they are — learning, practicing and figuring out who you’d become in the operating room. You know how pivotal those years were.
Your gift to the fund ensures today’s students receive the same excellence, guidance and heart that shaped you — and carry those values into every operating room, every patient interaction, every day.
A Legacy of Skill, Service and an Unmatched Heart
Dr. Graney was the kind of physician people trusted. His family famously installed a wall phone beside the dinner table so he would never miss a patient’s call.
And he didn’t. He listened — whether it was urgent or simply someone needing a steady voice.
Before becoming a doctor, Dr. Graney trained as a tailor. That meticulous attention to detail, that commitment to perfecting every stitch, followed him into surgery. During more than three decades as chief of surgery at Des Moines General Hospital, he trained generations of residents, modeling what compassionate, patient-first care looks like in practice.
Those who knew him don’t remember the titles — even though he was a fellow, president and honored member of the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons.
They remember the coloring books he brought to hospitalized children when visiting hours were over. They remember the countless late-night calls he answered. They remember his courage leading the evacuation of the entire hospital during a devastating 1965 fire. They remember his leadership.
Above all, they remember his kindness.
Your Impact Starts Here
When you support the Howard Graney Surgical Fund, you won’t just be honoring a legacy, you’ll extend it. You’ll equip students with the excellence Dr. Graney embodied and launch the next generation of compassionate, highly skilled osteopathic surgeons.
Your support shapes the surgeons our communities will rely on tomorrow.
We’re Here to Help
If you have questions, please reach out to the Development and Alumni Relations team at donations@dmu.edu or 515-271-1454.