Parker B. Francis announced his interest in the “breathing business” by launching the Kansas City Oxygen Gas Company in 1913. As the company continued to prosper and grow, it became the Puritan Compressed Gas Corporation in 1931. After V. Ray Bennett constructed the first Bennett Resuscitator unit for a hospital in Los Angeles, Parker B. Francis merged his company with Bennett’s to create the Puritan Bennett Corporation, signifying the importance of this product within the industry. In 1951, he established a foundation bearing his name. Since Puritan-Bennett was a leading manufacturer of respiratory equipment and medical gases, the primary emphasis of the Foundation was related to pulmonary research. The success of Puritan-Bennett in the following years allowed for substantial increases in Foundation resources. The Parker B. Francis Fellowship program, a national postdoctoral study in pulmonary research, was inaugurated in 1975 and Fellowships were awarded in fields related to pulmonary disease and anesthesiology.
