James G. Clark, MD and Ruth E. Schmidt, RN, Endowment Fund for Medical Education

The James G. Clark, MD, and Ruth E. Schmidt, RN, Endowment Fund for Medical Education was established in 1991 by the late Ms. Schmidt in honor of physician, Dr. Clark. Ms. Schmidt was a 1934 alumna of the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing.

A native of Huron, Ohio, Ms. Schmidt began her career as a nurse in Presbyterian Hospital’s operating room. In the early 1940s, she went into private duty nursing, and during World War II, she worked for the FBI as a nurse-companion to the mother of a captured spy ? accompanying the woman during the spy’s trial and conviction in Washington, D.C. After the war, she returned to the Presbyterian Hospital operating room, and she continued to work as director of OR nursing through the 1956 merger of Presbyterian and St. Luke’s Hospital, the two predecessor institutions that are the basis of Rush University Medical Center. Ms. Schmidt retired in 1974 but remained actively involved with her alma mater. She received the nursing college’s distinguished alumna award in 1988, and in 1992 she received the Trustee Medal ? Rush’s highest honor. Ms. Schmidt passed away in 1997.

This scholarship also honors Dr. Clark, a retired Rush cardiologist who served as Ms. Schmidt’s longtime physician. Ms. Schmidt credited Dr. Clark for her long and healthy life.