LEWISTON – When Dr. Rudolph Haas began practicing medicine in Lewiston, a house call cost $3. A visit to the hospital was $2 and an overnight stay was $16.

Haas, who treated more than 14,000 patients in a 51-year career, died Wednesday at his home in Minnesota. He was 94.

Until 1992, Haas worked at Central Maine Medical Center, where he served as both chief of staff and president of the medical staff. He was also the college physician for Bates College for 26 years.

“He was a really good doctor and a friendly, friendly man,” said 86-year-old Edward Laine, a Lewiston man who was treated by Haas for decades. “In the beginning, he made house calls. He even had office hours in the evening. You don’t see that today.”

Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Haas completed medical school there in 1935, just as Hitler was rising to power. As his home country was in political upheaval, Haas went to work for a Swiss hospital for a year-and-a-half before moving to France.

In 1938, a relative in the United States vouched for the young doctor, and Haas moved to New York. He lived in that city and then Boston before he was invited to come to Maine to work for the New England Medical Center.

Initially, it appeared as though Haas would work in Jackman. He went to Lewiston, instead and worked for what was then known as Central Maine General Hospital. According to a 1992 Sun Journal interview with Haas, he passed his state medical boards in Portland while a blizzard raged outside.

In Lewiston, Haas grew to be known as a friendly doctor as well as a skilled one. His patients described him as a man who knew them personally and asked about their problems, rather than just doling out medicine. Other physicians valued Haas’ experience and knowledge.

“Every one of the physicians in the community, we all respected him. He had excellent judgment,” said local surgeon Behzad Fakhery. “His patients really loved him dearly. He was a fine, fine man.”

Around the time he was settling down in Lewiston, he married Gerda, a nurse from Berlin who spent two years in a concentration camp before coming to the United States. The couple had four children and 11 grandchildren, according to Haas’ obituary. Gerda still lives in Minnesota.