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 own community. Upon their deaths, their estate gift of $1.5 million to St. Luke’s University Health Network is now helping to ensure that graduate students and clinical leaders can begin, and sustain, their medical education.

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. “St. Luke’s is dedicated to quality medical education training in a patient-centered and technologically sophisticated teaching environment. More than 500 residents and fellows are currently completing their education at St. Luke’s, and this generous gift will allow the Network to continue its reputation as a preferred clinical learning environment of choice and as a nationally recognized Top Teaching Hospital.”

Joe and Penny were married for 59 years, had no children and visited 102 countries on all continents except Antarctica. Yet, the Lehigh Valley was always home and investing there was personal. Joe retired from the P.B. & N.E. Railroad of Bethlehem Steel and Penny as vice president of human resources for First Valley Bank of Bethlehem and they resided at Moravian Village until their deaths.

They selected several local charities to include in their estate plan but, according to Penny, “It was important to us that St. Luke’s continue to receive our support when we are no longer around so they can continue to do the excellent work they do every day.

“Helping others should be a priority for all of us,” added Penny. “My legacy is not what I accomplished during my career, or the number of countries I visited, it is the difference I made in the lives of others. I am humbled and honored that I can help St. Luke’s and other charities through my estate plan.”