Editing Ferdinand Waldo Demara (section)

== Impersonations ==
The following year, Demara began his new life by borrowing the name of Anthony Ignolia, an army buddy, and going [[AWOL]]. He joined the [[Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani]], a Trappist monastery in Kentucky under his assumed identity. However, he met an acquaintance from his first Trappist monastery, and so he left before his true identity could be revealed. He then moved to the [[New Melleray Abbey]] near [[Dubuque, Iowa]], before finally returning home. His father encouraged his son to turn himself in to the military police for his desertion but he did not.<ref name="NCR" />

He then joined the [[United States Navy]] where he trained as a [[hospital corpsman]].<ref name= tale>{{cite magazine| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=flQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA79 |first= Joe| last= McCarthy| magazine= Life| date= January 28, 1952 | title= The Master Imposter: An Incredible Tale | pages= 79–89| via= Google Books| access-date= December 13, 2017}}</ref>{{rp|80}} He did not reach the position he wanted, faked his suicide and borrowed another name, Robert Linton French, and pretended to be a religion-oriented psychologist. "Dr French" then presented himself at the [[Subiaco Abbey (Arkansas)|New Subiaco Abbey]], a Benedictine monastery in Arkansas, as a would-be Catholic convert. However, after a few weeks "he was summoned to the abbot's office, where he was accused of having forged his documents".<ref name="NCR" /> He denied the accusations but left the monastery. He travelled to Chicago, where he joined the [[Clerics of Saint Viator]], before moving on to the [[Order of St. Camillus]] in Milwaukee.<ref name="NCR" /> After once more arguing with his superiors, this time over his lack of cooking skills, he left and moved to New Jersey, where he joined the [[Paulist]] novitiate in [[Oak Ridge, New Jersey|Oak Ridge]].<ref name="NCR" />

As Dr. French, he applied for various jobs at Catholic colleges and was eventually employed to teach [[psychology]] at [[Gannon College]] (now a university) in Erie, Pennsylvania. Being made dean of the School of Philosophy, he taught general psychology, [[industrial psychology]], and [[abnormal psychology]], and published a "well-received booklet" titled ''How to Bring Up Your Child''.<ref name="NCR" /> He left after "an unfortunate incident involving forged checks".<ref name="NCR" /> He was briefly a member of the Benedictine [[St. Bede Academy|Saint Bede's Abbey, Peru]], Illinois, before joining the [[Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God]].<ref name="NCR" />

Afterwards, Demara served as an orderly in a Los Angeles sanitarium, and served as an instructor in [[Saint Martin's University|St. Martin's College]] (now a university) in the state of Washington. The [[FBI]] captured him and he served 18 months at the Naval Disciplinary Barracks, [[San Pedro, California]], for desertion. After his release, he assumed a fake identity and studied law at night at Northeastern University, then joined the [[Brothers of Christian Instruction]] in [[Maine]], a Roman Catholic order.<ref name="Time-1957" />

While there, he became acquainted with a young Canadian surgeon named Joseph C. Cyr.<ref name="Time-1957" /> That led to his most famous exploit in which he masqueraded as Cyr, working as a [[ship's doctor]] aboard [[HMCS Cayuga (R04)|HMCS ''Cayuga'']], a [[Royal Canadian Navy]] destroyer, during the [[Korean War]]. He managed to improvise successful major surgeries and fend off infection with generous amounts of [[penicillin]]. His most notable surgical practices were performed on some sixteen Korean combat injuries who were loaded onto the ''Cayuga''. All eyes turned to Demara, as several men needed urgent surgery. After ordering personnel to transport them to the ship's operating room and prep them for treatment, Demara disappeared to his room with a textbook on general surgery and speed-read the steps for the procedures that lay ahead, including major chest surgery. All the men survived.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Accounts of his heroic efforts ended up in Canadian newspapers, reaching the mother of the real Joseph Cyr, who was quietly practicing medicine in [[Grand Falls, New Brunswick|Grand Falls]], [[New Brunswick]]. When news of the impersonation reached the ''Cayuga'', still on station off Korea, Captain James Plomer at first refused to believe them. Demara, however, confessed and returned to Canada to face a court-martial.  Faced with the embarrassment of having allowed an impostor into the Royal Canadian Navy's ranks, a board of enquiry instead chose to quietly dismiss him and force his deportation to the United States. 

The ''MASH'' episode "[[Dear Dad...Again]]" included a one-time character Captain Adam Casey, likely inspired by Demara's exploits, who performs several surgeries, but turns out not to be a real surgeon.

=== Guiding philosophy ===
Demara told his biographer he was successful in his roles because he was able to fit into positions that no one else had previously occupied. Demara explained it in the following excerpt from his biography:{{blockquote|'(Demara) had come to two beliefs. One was that in any organization there is always a lot of loose, unused power lying about which can be picked up without alienating anyone. The second rule is, if you want power and want to expand, never encroach on anyone else's domain; open up new ones...'}}

Demara referred to it as 'expanding into the power vacuum,' and described as such; 'if you come into a new situation (there's a nice word for it), don't join some other professor's committee and try to make your mark by moving up in that committee. You'll, one, have a long haul and two, make an enemy.' Demara's technique was to find his own committee. 'That way there's no competition, no past standards to measure you by. How can anyone tell you aren't running a top outfit? And then there's no past laws or rules or precedents to hold you down or limit you. Make your own rules and interpretations. Nothing like it. Remember it, expand into the power vacuum!'<ref name = TGI />{{rp|102–103}}
In his later years, he joined the Los Angeles Adventurers Club; he was noted as the only person to lie his way into the club.

=== Founded a college ===
During Demara's impersonation as Brother John Payne of the Christian Brothers of Instruction (also known as [[Brothers of Christian Instruction]]), Demara decided to make the religious teaching order more prominent by founding a college in [[Alfred, Maine]]. Demara proceeded on his own and got the college chartered by the state. He then promptly left the religious order in 1951, when the Christian Brothers of Instruction offended him by not naming him as rector or chancellor of the new college and chose what Demara considered a terrible name for the college.<ref name = TGI />{{rp|115–119}} The college Demara founded, [[LaMennais College]] in Alfred, Maine eventually became, in 1960, Walsh College (now [[Walsh University]]).<ref>{{cite web|title=LaMennais Brothers Blogspot| url= http://lamennaisbrothers.blogspot.com/|accessdate= April 3, 2011}}</ref>

=== Minor fame ===
After this episode, he sold his tale to ''[[Life (magazine)|LIFE]]''<ref name= tale /> and worked in short-term jobs, since he had become widely known. However, he returned to his old tricks, obtained fake credentials, and got a job at a prison in [[Huntsville, Texas|Huntsville]], [[Texas]]. According to his biographer, Demara's past became known and his position untenable when an inmate found a 1952 copy of ''LIFE'' with an article about the impostor. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' ran a full page article on Demara in February 1957.

On November 5, 1959, Demara appeared on the surrealistic game show hosted by [[Ernie Kovacs]], ''[[Take a Good Look (TV series)|Take a Good Look]]''. The object was for one of the three celebrity panelists to guess his identity. One week later, on November 12, 1959, he appeared on an episode of the TV quiz show ''[[You Bet Your Life]]'', with Groucho Marx.  Demara recounted his exploits and said the $1,000 he earned on the program was going to be donated to the "Feed and Clothe Fred Demara Fund".<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/33Rz5yYCeks Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160229142521/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Rz5yYCeks Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite serial| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Rz5yYCeks&index=89&list=PLHaioNpr_GDbvsTj_taM-jO6C1658N1PC | series= [[You Bet Your Life]] |number= 59-08 |title= Ferdinand Demara, 'The Great Imposter' | interviewer= Groucho Marx | first1= Carmen| last1= Phillips| first2= Ferdinand| last2= Demara|date= November 12, 1959| at= 6:48| via= YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Demara continued to use new aliases but, as a result of his self-generated publicity, it became much harder to accomplish impersonations. In 1960, as a publicity stunt, Demara was given a small acting role in the horror film ''[[The Hypnotic Eye]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|title="The Hypnotic Eye." AFI Catalog.|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/53182|access-date=2023-08-11}}</ref> He appears briefly in the film portraying a legitimate hospital surgeon. By this point, Demara's girth was so notable that he could not avoid attracting attention. Demara had already been considerably overweight during his impersonation of Joseph C. Cyr.