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1 Man. 3,000 Babies. A High Point Legacy.

The High Point doctor was a fixture in the High Point community, delivering 3,000 babies over his career.

HIGH POINT, N.C. — Dr. Otis E. Tillman, Sr. certainly made an impact in High Point, North Carolina. 

Born in Wadesboro, He attended North Carolina A&T State University. He graduated in 1953 and went to Howard medical school with tuition subsidized by the state of North Carolina to avoid integrating UNC-Chapel Hill's medical school. In return, Tillman agreed to come back to North Carolina to practice medicine. 

When he moved to High Point, one of his college friends, the late Dr. Perry Little, loaned him the money to start his practice. Black doctors at the time were few and far between, and he was almost always on duty. Because High Point Hospital was segregated, black patients were confined to one ward, which meant due to a variety of illnesses and surgeries housed together, black doctors like Dr. Tillman had to learn different specialties to treat their patients. People would often come to his house to ask about aches and pains, and often his patients could not afford to pay, but he would treat them anyways. He practiced medicine in High Point for 46 years before he retired in 2003. In that time, he reportedly delivered 3,000 babies. At his retirement dinner, he raised $28,000 to establish a scholarship at North Carolina A&T.

But Dr. Tillman was more than just a doctor. He was a civil rights activist. He protested segregation in High Point repeatedly. He was also a community advocate. He was the former chairman of the High Point Urban Renewal Commission and a board member of the High Point Community Foundation, Piedmont Triad Airport Authority, North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, UNC Pembroke and Carl Chavis Memorial Branch YMCA. He was on the board of trustees at A&T for a record 25 years. In 2013, Guilford County Government Commissioners proclaimed the mental health building on S. Centennial Street in High Point would be named the Dr. Otis E. Tillman Sr. Mental Health Building.

Tillman died Wednesday in High Point. He was 89 years old. 

Funeral arrangements are still incomplete at this time.

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