The Father of Modern Spine Surgery
In a 2020 article, Young published patients’ letters about the difference that Arthur had made in their lives, including this from a patient on whom he had operated when they were 16 years of age:
“I was one of the patients that Dr. Steffee had in the ’80s. He actually traveled to Omaha, Nebraska to do the surgery. For me it was a process of three surgeries, and yes, a body cast. I had a fourth surgery when I slipped on the ice. I traveled to Cleveland and Dr. Steffee performed the surgery. I haven’t had any problems in nearly 35 years. I love Dr. Steffee. I was 16 years old when I had the surgeries and he gave me my life back.”
Dr. Arthur D. Steffee, in scrubs.
Arthur fulfilled the second principle by which he lived his life, thousands of times over: “To make some difference with your life”, as inspired by a quote of Leo Rosten.
“The purpose of life is not to be happy—but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you lived at all.” (Rosten)
In the YouTube video interview, Some Difference, Arthur said, “It doesn’t matter how big the difference is. It can be infinitesimally small… some difference that you were here at all.”
This man who brought spinal surgery out of the Dark Ages with his inventions lived courageously and fought for truth in the face of resistance from the FDA and governmental agencies. He was wrongfully persecuted for his inventions in spinal surgery – as have been innovators that challenged the medical orthodoxy.
From 1847 into the first half of the twentieth century, according to the American Medical Association, physicians could not hold a patent for any surgical instrument or advertise them: Meaning that physicians were not to prosper from their inventions.
Robin Young in Orthopedics this Week reported: “In 1990, FDA commissioner David Kessler launched an investigation of AcroMed and Dr. Steffee. In 1992, AcroMed received a warning from the FDA to stop promoting its spinal implants.
They were accused of making a profit. Seriously.
That all ended when pedicle screws were down-classified by the FDA in the late 1990s.”
Within weeks of the sale of Acromed to DuPuy, a division of Johnson & Johnson, the company received from the FDA what Arthur had battled to secure for fifteen years. In 1999, all related cases were dismissed for lack of evidence.
Arthur Steffee was punished for doing something new and as a result has “seen more and endured more in his efforts to innovate on behalf of patients.”
What might have embittered another man – with forbearance and endurance Arthur rose another day – in a day-tight-compartment – to create and bring healing and beauty to the world.
Sharing his wisdom with the next generation in 2010 when he received an honorary Doctor of Public Service award from Clarion University (PennWest) for his service as a retired surgeon and Clarion County leader in community and economic development, Arthur encouraged students at commencement to overcome the resistance to creativity and innovation:
“Every time you have a good idea 15 people are going to be around you saying, don’t do it. It’s not going to work. The only way you can get around that is to believe in yourself. If you don’t have a belief in yourself, it's very difficult to get other people to believe in you. The best thing to do would be to stand tall, stick your shoulders back, and go ahead and do what you need to do.”
A surgeon who just went ahead and did what he needed to do to make a difference, Art Steffee did many ‘firsts”; he did the first total hip in the state of Ohio and in his early career created a system of finger joints. In a 2022 interview With Art Steffee on His Mountaintop, he shared personal insights about his grandfather’s home-style inventions and his own delight in fabricating solutions to clinical problems that led to his invention of the spinal pedicle screw plate. Robin Young described the journey of the ‘kid from Oil City’:
“Over the years, in 35 countries – Dr. Steffee circumnavigated the globe, by his counting, five times—teaching, lecturing, and training a generation of spine and neurosurgeons. The company he founded, which was the first spinal implant manufacturer in the United States, is now a division of the largest medical company in the world, Johnson & Johnson.
For the son of a teacher and bank teller, it’s been a remarkable climb to the top of the mountain.”
Arthur’s Vision and Foxburg
After retiring from surgery and moving to Foxburg, Arthur’s kindness and commitment to making a difference continued as he counseled spinal patients – albeit not his own. Friends in need of relief from debilitating back pain who had gone to a physician for diagnostics would bring him their X-rays to review. Despite their fears, they found resolve in his confidence as Arthur explained how their surgery would be successful… with the device he had invented.
When insurance permitted, he would counsel patients to go to Cleveland to be operated on by his former partner, Dr. Louis Keppler – or to a surgeon and practice he knew in Pittsburgh. When possible, not only would he accompany them but also suit up in scrubs and observe the surgery.
For anyone in the mid-1990s viewing the weedy, vacant bluff overlooking the Allegheny from the muddy parking lot of Foxburg’s small Silver Fox diner, there was no way to conceive of a village being built on the riverbank in less than ten years – let alone five businesses that would revitalize the economy, provide jobs and create a tourist destination on the banks of the Allegheny River.
And no one could have imagined that Foxburg would have an arts center presenting regionally acclaimed and world-renowned artists at the pinnacle of their careers performing in what at that time was an abandoned medical center on the top floor of the Foxburg Free Library.
But Arthur Steffee did – and with his genius vision, generosity, and unbridled passion for creativity, he made it happen.
Buying the original Fox estate in December of 1997, Arthur and his late wife Patricia began restoring the original vision of the Fox family, renovating the mansion as well as revitalizing the long-time forgotten downtown Foxburg.
Within four years they had transformed the mansion – opening up the floors with a central staircase that spiraled at the top to an enclosed widow’s walk, utilizing a multitude of rare woods, installing masterful cabinetry, and adding a large conservatory overlooking the pond. Each room was more stunning than the last.
The Frank Furness carriage house and original H-Barns and gardens were restored and Arthur built numerous outbuildings including a greenhouse, dovecote, and peacock house as well as homes for Patricia’s family members — always working himself alongside the craftsmen and builders.
First-time visitors taking the long drive back to the mansion on RiverStone Farm frequently would mistake the workman in a plaid shirt and work pants sitting on a piece of equipment as the maintenance man and ask him, “Can you tell me where I might find Dr. Steffee?” He enjoyed shining a welcoming grin from ear to ear and saying, “I’m Art Steffee.”
At the same time, to bring jobs and economic revitalization into the area, Arthur and Patricia also built the village with businesses including The Allegheny Grille, Foxburg Inn, and Foxburg Pizza along the riverbank – and established Foxburg Wine Cellars in the previous Silver Fox diner location. They also restored the historic Fox family office building which served as a gift shop and eventually would become ARCA’s Red Brick Gallery and Gift Shop.
McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ.
His Dream of Music
and Art in the Valley
Inspired by the Blossom Music Festival near Cleveland and passionate about classical music, Arthur dreamt of creating an arts center away from an urban setting that would attract people who were equally drawn by the excellence of the music and art as they were by the beauty of the river valley – cultural tourists.
While he knew that a performing arts venue and gallery in Foxburg would contribute to the economy, bringing customers into his restaurants and staying at the hotel, more motivating was his love of music and appreciation of the visual arts. He and Patricia sought to make the arts the hub of the larger wheel of the community they were creating. It would benefit the quality of life for residents, draw retirees to move there – and lure young people to return there. They were building a community of like-minded people – a family of friends.
In 2004, a group of Board members joined Arthur and Patricia in founding Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts. The Steffees underwrote the renovation of the derelict, historic space – a long-defunct medical center on the top floor of the Foxburg Free Library with cubicles and a dropped ceiling that had obscured the 1909 stage and performance space.
The original Board members with Executive Director Adam Weiss transformed the space into the charming and acoustically transparent Lincoln Hall, ARCA’s main performance venue. Arthur gifted ARCA a seven-foot Steinway piano and McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ which he purchased from Paul and Sally McKissick.
At the inaugural concerts in the fall of 2006, the expectant and enthusiastic Arthur greeted guests on the patio outside the Lincoln Hall entrance.
While Arthur always made it clear that his preference was for classical piano, chamber music, and Wurlitzer concerts, from the beginning a broad spectrum of idioms was presented including bluegrass, jazz, R&B Soul, Celtic music, and cabaret.
From the beginning, Arthur would give artists who performed in Lincoln Hall the full ‘Foxburg Steffee experience’ – including ATV rides on forest paths pointing out ferns, mosses, trees, and plants or to the top of his ridge to his “Sunset Point” and sometimes straight down the sledding slope he was creating – as well as meals and receptions at his residences.
Always Arthur expressed his appreciation for their talent and all they had done to develop it. “I don’t know how you do that – and all from memory,” he would say in amazement after a spectacular performance.
Arthur was an artist himself – in everything he did. Rocks were his poetry – putting them together in a way that had harmony and design. In the homes, gardens, and landscapes he created, he gave us the gift of looking through his eyes to see the beauty of the world he perceived. Whether listening to music with Arthur in the concert hall or in front of his speakers, as he was moved, he opened our ears to more – to hear what we hadn’t heard – and to be moved ourselves.
Arthur Steffee was a humble giant in our midst - a “doer”, who lived each day to the max in his 'day-tight compartments', always working, curious about everything, with the huge, capacious mind of this genius polymath Renaissance man. He admired and greatly appreciated the skill and expertise of the stone mason, machine operator, house painter, gardener, cook, nurse, farmer, landscape painter, and musician. In his quiet listening and compassion for everyone he encountered, he was the kind, empathetic physician inspired by William Osler - who beheld the innate beauty of each person with whom he spoke. In the sunset, leaves, flowers, and music touched him so deeply - he sensed the divine - and it moved him to tears.
His legacy – is that he loved – and shared that with all he met – as he created a community of “friends” that he treasured as “the finest gifts in life.”
In 2011, Arthur and Patricia’s friend Donna Edmonds – botanical watercolorist and former Westinghouse Sr. Vice President – accepted the invitation of then executive director, Drew Orient, to form an artist cooperative and create the Red Brick Gallery and Gift Shop on Main Street.
The full Memorial to Dr. Arthur D. Steffee can be found on ARCA’s website at https://alleghenyriverstone.org
A concert to celebrate Dr. Steffee’s memory will be announced at a later date.
If you wish to honor his memory, you may make an online contribution at www.alleghenyriverstone.org.
Checks may be mailed to:
Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts
P. O. Box 215
Foxburg, PA 16036
Telephone: 724-659-3153
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