Ask any San Diegan what they think when they hear the name “Mary Birch,” and the answer is clear — new life.
About 7,000 babies are born at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns each year, and over 250,000 have been delivered in the hospital’s 33-year history.
Born in 1886, Mary Birch (née Rand) was the daughter of the president of the Minneapolis Gas Light Company. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1909.
Around that time, Stephen Birch was building his fortune by founding what became, for a time, the world’s largest copper company.
A family’s legacy
Mary and Stephen married in 1916 and settled in New York City, where they became active philanthropists. They had two children, Stephen and Mary.
Six years after the elder Mary died of cancer in 1930, at the young age of 44, Stephen Sr. purchased 30,000 acres in San Diego’s Otay Ranch.
Eight years later, he established the Stephen and Mary Birch Foundation, with a focus on supporting hospitals.
Although Stephen died in 1940, the foundation continued its work with his daughter, Mary Birch Patrick, at the helm until her death in 1983.
The Stork Club takes flight
In 1955, Sharp Memorial Hospital opened its doors, featuring one of the county’s biggest labor and delivery centers. The maternity ward was known as “The Stork Club,” symbolized by the giant stork statue displayed atop the hospital.
“Many hospitals had maternity units, NICUs or a wing dedicated to women’s health,” says Bill Littlejohn, senior vice president and CEO of the Foundations of Sharp HealthCare. “But the concept of an entire hospital — its own building — just dedicated to women wasn’t common.”
However, the Stephen and Mary Birch Foundation recognized the value of a dedicated women’s hospital and gave $5 million to build Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns.
Opening in 1992 in Serra Mesa, it featured private labor-and-delivery suites, a world-class NICU and specialized operating rooms — establishing Sharp Mary Birch as a leader in women’s and newborn care. The Mary Birch name now extends to Sharp’s hospitals in La Mesa and Chula Vista.
Today, the legacy continues, as Sharp aims to partner with Tri-City Medical Center reestablishing the hospital’s labor and delivery services later this year. “It’s wonderful to see Mary Birch’s name continue its legacy and, with Sharp, represent the joy of families bringing new life into the world,” Littlejohn says.
