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March
30 was a day like no on other as the Rollins School of Public
Health (RSPH) dedicated the Hubert Department of Global Health, the first
solely named department on the Emory campus and the first such named department
among the nation's schools of public health.
It was also a day to honor O.C. and Ruth
Hubert and their family, for whom the school named the department in recognition
of their generosity. When O.C. died in 1986, he was the largest private
individual owner of property in Cobb County, Georgia. In accordance with
his wishes, the bulk of his estate was to be used to help others, but
not until his wife's death. But as Ruth told her family, she did not want
to be "an impediment to the charitable purposes" she and O.C.
planned.
The result today is the Hubert Foundation,
which is led by her son, Richard (Dick) Hubert. Support to date from the
foundation, which has given and pledged $10 million to the RSPH, doubled
the endowment for the O.C. Hubert Fellowships in International Health,
allowing more students to travel overseas to conduct field research. It
established two chairs—the William H. Foege Chair of Global Health,
held by Keith Klugman, and the Ruth and O.C. Hubert Chair in Global Health,
held by Venkat Narayan—and created the Richard N. Hubert Fund for
Global Health Excellence to support new and innovative approaches to solving
the world's health challenges.
During the dedication of the Hubert Department
of Global Health, Dick expressed his thanks to the RSPH for enabling his
family's foundation to meet its mission of caring for people who are hungry
or sick. "You are as important to us as we are to you," he said.
"You have the expertise to accomplish the high purpose of our mission
and the sensitivity to deal with a global world."
The work of the RSPH and the Hubert family's
desire to improve quality of life worldwide make for a good fit. "The
fact is that we can always find a niche and, I hope, make a difference,"
Dick told guests, including his mother, now 97. "We cannot do that
unless we have people who are willing to be trained and go into the field.
It is a question of dedication and a question of training, and the Rollins
School of Public Health does that.
"When we looked through my father's
papers after his death, we found his visa to Ethiopia—he wanted
to find some way to do directly what we are doing," Dick noted. "I
do it in his name, I do it in the family's name, and I thank you very
much for your effort to what I think is a common and worthwhile goal." |
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