RMC Receives One Million Dollar Gift From Pennnepacker Estate
A gift of $1 million from the estate of Dr. J. Scott Pennepacker, which has increased the J. Scott and Rebecca N. Pennepacker Scholarship Endowment to almost $1.3 million dollars, will generate between $50,000 and $60,000 per year in scholarships, according to Obert Undem, RMC director of planned giving.
The Pennepacker family's lifetime giving ranks them as the fourth largest donors to RMC in its 130-year history.
Dr. Pennepacker died Dec. 20, 2007.
"The Pennepacker Scholarship Endowment represents a wonderful story of commitment and generosity," Mr. Undem said.
Dr. Pennpacker graduated from Billings Polytechnic Institute, the predecessor to RMC, in 1942. Dr. and Mrs. Pennepacker, who had no children, were life long friends of the College. He was the son of Joseph N. Pennepacker, an early day Methodist minister in Libby, and a long time Dean of B.P.I. His mother was Marion Christie Pennepacker.
Dr. Pennepacker received his medical degree from Boston University and served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during WWII. His first Montana practice was in Sidney.
He served as president of the Eastern Montana Medical Association and the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of General Practice. In 1962, he completed a residency in pathology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Lincoln. He practiced pathology in Janesville, Wis. and returned to Sioux City, Iowa to practice at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center and was medical director of its School of Medical Technology. He was medical director of Siouxland Physicians' Laboratory and president of United Way of Siouxland.
In 1984, he was honored by the College of American Pathologists as the recipient of the Frank W. Harman Memorial Award for meritorious service.
A gifted physician and teacher, he was especially proud of his work with students of medical technology.
He and Rebecca retired to Missoula to be near family. Rebecca died in January, 2003. Scott was also preceded in death by his sister, Ruth. He was survived by his three sisters: Esther Coombs, Miriam Vosburgh and Elma Marion Leigh and many much loved nieces and nephews.
"Scott and Rebecca's kindness, generosity and love of life remain an inspiration not only to family, but to all who were fortunate enough to have known them. I feel privileged to have known them," said Mr. Undem. "We are grateful to the extended Pennepacker family for this beneficence."
Even though it would be human nature to resent diversion of family wealth to an educational institution rather than distributing it to individual members of the family for personal use, it is a certainty that the values that guided and pervaded Scott and Rebecca's philanthropic decisions are commonly held among the members of their extended family, Mr. Undem explained.