Newswise — Dr. and Mrs. William H. Kaufman announced a $1 million gift to the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine this fall at Dr. Kaufman's (MD '51) 55th class reunion.
The gift -- $100,000 a year for the next 10 years -- will be used to support academic scholarships for students who have financial need and academic ability.
"The Dr. and Mrs. William H. Kaufman College of Medicine Scholarship is a very significant gift for our students," said Dr. Joseph Flaherty, dean of the UIC College of Medicine. "Those students receiving the Kaufman scholarships will be able to pursue their educational goals with a little less worry about the financing of their schooling -- the cost of which is considerable these days. This scholarship is really a priceless gift. We are deeply grateful."
Kaufman, who now lives in Delray Beach, Fla., retired from his surgery practice in Allen Park, Mich. eight years ago. He grew up in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago in the 1930s and joined the Air Force after high school during World War II. After two years of training he was assigned to the crew of a B-29, but the war ended just a week before he was to fly to Japan. He returned to the United States and enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Studying chemistry sparked an interest in becoming a doctor. "I couldn't afford it. It seemed like a far-fetched idea to me, but the GI Bill would pay for it and made medical school a reality. Without it, I could never have even considered medical school," Kaufman recalled.
"Medical school was challenging, but something that I never took for granted. All my life, I felt I wanted to give back for this outstanding opportunity." After earning his M.D., Kaufman worked at Torrance General Hospital, now part of UCLA, as an intern. He then returned to Chicago for a residency in surgery at Michael Reese Hospital before transferring to the VA Research Hospital in Chicago to finish his residency.
Kaufman met his future wife, Carole Klotz, on the ski slopes in the Catskills. They have been married 44 years. Their three children -- David, Deborah and Lori -- and seven grandchildren all live in Chicago. Kaufman is an avid sailor, bridge player and opera-goer whose first love and most satisfying endeavor was always medicine. He says he was sorry the idea of the scholarship didn't come to him sooner.
"I suddenly got the idea last spring that I should repay my debt to the college. I wouldn't be where I am without the UIC medical school. They gave me the opportunity and opened the door for a very satisfying career," he said.
"There's a lot of different ways to repay such a debt, but what they did for me was give me an education. So I thought it best to give someone else the same chance. My hope is that this gift will enable some deserving students annually to have the same opportunity that I had -- to obtain a medical education from one of the finest medical schools, the University of Illinois at Chicago."
UIC ranks among the nation's top 50 universities in federal research funding and is Chicago's largest university with 25,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.
For more information about UIC, visit http://www.uic.edu.
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