The Schusters became the lead donors for the performing arts center that bears their names when they announced a planned gift of $8 million that would go to the project after their deaths, Victoria Theatre Association and Arts Center Foundation officials said Friday. Those three facilities all bear the Schusters’ name, but represent only the most high-profile examples of the philanthropy that reached into several corners of the Miami Valley.
“Dr. Schuster’s legacy and leadership will have long-term impact in the Miami Valley and especially within the arts community,” said Ken Neufeld, president and CEO of Victoria Theatre Association and The Arts Center Foundation. “We have all lost a friend, a mentor, and above all an arts patron in the truest sense of the word.”
Dr. Schuster served as cardiologist at Kettering Medical Center from the hospital’s earliest years. He founded KMC’s cardiac program in 1965 and also oversaw the founding of the medical center’s heart catheterization lab, where he performed many hundreds of procedures on patients and trained dozens of other cardiologists in life-saving techniques.
Dr. Franklin Handel, who knew and practiced alongside Dr. Schuster for 29 years as a cardiologist with Schuster Cardiology Associates, said his mentor “was the most compassionate physician I’ve ever known. He was a role model. He treated everybody with great respect and kindness.”
Dr. Schuster actively took care of patients until he was well into his 80s, finally retiring from the practice about seven years ago, Handel said.
Fred Manchur, president and CEO of Kettering Health Network, said naming the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Heart Hospital after the couple “was a fitting tribute to them. They were great forces for making Dayton a better place to live.” Roy Chew, president of Kettering Medical Center, said Dr. Schuster “embodied the ideal physician.”
A clinical professor of medicine at Wright State University since 1975, Schuster helped shape the university, particularly its arts programs, through his support and patronage, WSU officials said. In 2009, Schuster made a donation towards the modernization of the university’s Creative Arts Center, which helped launch a $4.2 million renovation of the building’s concert hall. The performance space reopened earlier this year as the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Hall.
“When we think of the long list of friends of this university, Dr. Benjamin Schuster is among those at the top,” said Wright State University President David R. Hopkins. “His generosity and wisdom have dramatically impacted three schools and colleges across the campus: the Boonshoft School of Medicine, the School of Professional Psychology and the College of Liberal Arts.”
Michael Roediger, executive director of the Dayton Art Institute, said Dr. Schuster’s death will leave a void. “There are few people who have had his impact, personally, professionally, philosophically and philanthropically,” Roediger said. “He was a mentor to many in the arts community.”
U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, said he and his family “were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of a champion of our community … saying that he and his commitment to the betterment of Dayton will be missed is an understatement.”
Benjamin and Marian Schuster met when he was an intern and she was a medical social worker. The couple moved to Dayton in 1957. In 2004, they sold their Oakwood home of three decades and moved to a 17th-floor condominium in Performance Place, the office and residential tower that’s part of the Schuster complex at Second and Main streets. Marian Schuster died in 2007 at age 80. The couple were married 55 years.
Dr. Schuster is survived by three daughters and six grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.