Bering, frederick

(¤ 1878,  1950) Dermatologist, working in Kiel, Essen, Cologne. Friedrich Bering was born on 2 February 1878 in Fröndenberg/Ruhr as the son of the general practitioner of the same name (Dr. med. Friedrich Bering, ¤ 1817 on the Beringhof near Iserlohn,  1888 in Fröndenberg/Ruhr) and his wife Sophie, née Wiemann. After passing his school-leaving examination at the Laurentianum in Arnsberg, he studied medicine in Tübingen, Berlin, Bonn and Kiel from Easter 1897, where he passed his state examination in 1902 and subsequently received his doctorate. After completing his service in the sea battalion and further training in pathology, internal medicine and surgery, he devoted himself entirely to dermatology and was assistant and senior physician at the Dermatology Clinic of Kiel University until August 1914. He habilitated in 1907 and was appointed professor in 1912. In 1911 he married Hertha Reinecke, daughter of a Holstein general practitioner. The marriage was blessed with two sons, the younger of whom died in Italy in 1944. In 1914 Friedrich Bering became chief physician of the Städtische Hautklinik in Essen, where he worked until 1931, interrupted by the First World War. In the autumn of that year he accepted the call to become a full professor at the University of Cologne. After having been Dean of his faculty, member of the University Senate and long-time Chairman of the Medical Examination Commission, he became Rector of the University of Cologne in 1942 and held this office in the most difficult wartime period until 1945 in keeping with the best tradition of German universities. At the same time, he managed a small ward for skin patients at the St. Elisabeth Hospital in Cologne-Hohenlind. After working as a doctor near his birthplace, he returned to his chair in spring 1948. Friedrich Bering was re-elected chairman of the Rhenish-Westphalian Dermatological Society and thus held the same office that he had held for many years before. He died in Cologne after a long period of severe suffering, in the middle of his work, on 10 July 1950. Friedrich-Bering-Straße can still be found in his birthplace today.