Promoting Public Health

by Laura Ferguson

George Schneider, M65, A90P, began to appreciate the value of preven­tive medicine and public health during the global pandemic. 

“The whole world was turned around because of COVID,” he said. “I came to realize that community and preventive medicine had to be included in how we think about the future of medical care.” 

Now Schneider and his wife, Patricia, J63, A90P, are filling that need by creating a new program to benefit all students on the Boston health sciences campus. 

The endowed Schneider Wellness Speaker Series, administered by the Office of Student Wellness, will bring to Tufts experts and practitioners working in preven­tive and community medicine. 

“The American health care system will be stronger when we prepare our stu­dents to see the bigger picture of what it means to have a healthy society,” he said. “With this exposure to ideas, values, and practices, we hope they have a broader sense of possibilities for their careers and for the medical profession as a whole.” 

For Schneider, who is retired from an endocrine practice in Roseland, New Jersey, the Wellness Speakers Series gift builds on long-standing philanthropy rooted in abiding gratitude to the School of Medicine, which he attended after Harvard.

In addition to annual fund support, he and his wife contribute to the Schneider Family Medical Scholarship Fund, the Schneider Family Arts and Sciences Scholarship Fund, and the Clinical Skills and Medical Education Technology Fund. They have also established two charitable remainder unitrusts, leading up to and in celebration of Patricia’s 50th Jackson reunion in 2013, which provide them income and tax benefits while lightening the load of loans and other expenses for future students.

“I have been fortunate with regard to my career, which I owe to Tufts School of Medicine,” said Schneider. “I would like others to have the same opportunities.”

Tufts has a special place in the lives of the Schneiders, who met on a blind date when Patricia was a first-year Jackson student. They married during his final year. Their son, Andrew, followed in their footsteps, graduating in 1990, and a granddaughter, Maddie, has since carried on the long line of Brown and Blue, graduating in 2023.

On the occasion of his 60th reunion, Schneider realized his classmates shared his indebtedness to Tufts. “Everybody I spoke with really appreciated the first-rate education we found at Tufts,” he said. “It was a stepping stone to our careers.” 

Still, he added, it’s also important to look forward and to have a hand in supporting the evolving needs of the school. “I tried to reemphasize to my classmates what giving has meant to me,” he said. “Hopefully they feel the same way.”