The man who developed a successful way to preserve blood, leading to today's blood banks, died because he was an African American and a hospital would not admit him after an auto accident. Charles R. Drew bled to death; a blood transfusion would have saved his life. Prior to Dr. Drew's discovery, many people died because of a lack of a ready supply of blood. A graduate of Dunbar School in Washington, D.C., where Carter G. Woodsen was principal, he had a distinguished college career. Dr. Drew began his research in blood preservation at McGill University in Montreal and continued at Columbia University in New York. A noted surgeon, he was the first African American diplomat of surgery from the American Board of Surgery.