On Jan. 1, 1941, Dr. Homer Stryker, an orthopaedic surgeon from Kalamazoo, Michigan, founded Stryker to provide medical products for unmet patientsﾒ needs. Dr. Stryker begans selling his inventions and hired his first full-time employee, Marshal Morrison. Mr. Morrison worked in the Borgess basement where he assembled and packaged turning frames and also assisted Dr. Stryker in surgery. World War II created a heavy demand for Dr. Stryker’s products.