Henry L. Bockus was born in 1894 in Newark, Delaware. He graduated from Central High School in Philadelphia in 1913 and received his M.D. from Jefferson Medical College in 1917. During World War II, he joined the medical corps of the U.S. Marines and served in Cuba. Following the war, his interest turned to the field of gastroenterology. By 1923, he had organized the Department of Gastroenterology at the University of Pennsylvania. He served as professor of Gastroenterology and Chair of the departments of Medicine and Gastroenterology (1949- 1960), and Emeritus Professor (1960). Bockus contributed to the training and education of physicians from around the world. He helped to organize the Asian Gastroenterological Association in Tokyo, and societies in other countries, as well. In 1958, the Bockus International Society of Gastroenterology was founded by associates, friends, and students, to honor Bockus' contributions to the field, and to share information from both a clinical and research standpoint, throughout the world. During his time at the University of Pennsylvania, Bockus wrote a comprehensive series on Gastroenterology that has since been republished and translated into other languages and was for many years the standard reference in this specialty.