Education & History
Beidler Estate Gift Ensures a Legacy of Medical Education
Although Joseph “Joe” and Roseanne “Penny” Beidler spent their lives traveling the world, nothing was more important to them than helping to make quality health care available to members of their community.
Although Joseph “Joe” and Roseanne “Penny” Beidler spent their lives traveling the world, nothing was more important to them than helping to make quality health care available to members of their community. Upon their deaths, their estate gift of $1.5 million to St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is now helping to ensure that graduate students and clinical leaders can begin and sustain their medical educations.
The Joseph and Roseanne “Penny” Beidler Endowed Scholarship Fund provides $1 million for scholarships to students attending Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine and other academic programs or affiliations created by the school’s leadership.
“Thanks to the generosity of the Beidlers, we can address the high cost of tuition and loan debt our students experience by supporting them financially through their medical journey,” said Shaden T. Eldakar-Hein, MD, MS, Senior Associate Dean, Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine. “This also provides access to students who may not otherwise have the opportunity to attend and inspires other students of similar backgrounds to aspire to become physicians.”
A gift of $500,000 established The Joseph R. & Roseanne Y. Beidler Medical Education Lecture Endowment Fund to support periodic talks, seminars, and workshops for students and practicing clinicians given by noted clinical leaders and visiting scholars. It will help stimulate advances in care across numerous specialties by supporting the professional development of current residents.
“The Beidlers truly understood the value of medical education that keeps our students and care providers current and stimulated, and that keeps the best providers at SLUHN who bring their advanced knowledge directly to their patients,” said James P. Orlando, Ed.D, Chief Graduate Medical Education Officer.
For Joe and Penny, the Lehigh Valley was always home and investing there was personal. They selected several local charities to include in their estate plan but, according to Penny, “It was important to us that St. Luke’s continues to receive our support when we are no longer around so they can continue to do the excellent work they do every day.”
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