Longtime friends of Princeton HealthCare System (PHCS) and donors to the PHCS Foundation, Bill and Joan Schreyer were generous philanthropists as well as much-loved members of the Princeton area community. Sadly, Bill passed away in January 2011 at the age of 83.
Bill served on the PHCS Board of Trustees from 1973 through 1981, having chaired the Board for a six-year term. He then joined the PHCS Foundation Board of Directors in 1985 and was a member until 2003. In 1995, he became the Chair of the Board, succeeding his close friend and fellow Penn State alumnus, George Conover. Over their long course of giving to PHCS, the Schreyers made gifts to support the Annual Fund, Chaplaincy Endowment, and Design for Healing capital campaign. Bill and Joan were so committed to the new hospital facility that they made the first gift to the campaign by pledging to name the Education Center at the new University Medical Center of Princeton (UMCP). Bill was the Campaign Committee Honorary Chair and was instrumental in the feasibility study and the early planning stages of the project.
Recently, PHCS acknowledged the Schreyers’ legacy of giving with an event to celebrate the dedication of the Education Center at UMCP in their honor. The gathering was attended by family, friends, and current and former PHCS Trustees and PHCS Foundation Board members. A portrait of Bill and Joan Schreyer, by artist John Ennis, was unveiled and will remain in the Education Center along with exterior signage naming the building the Schreyer Education Center.
When Bill made the commitment to support the Design for Healing campaign, he told Barry Rabner, PHCS President and CEO, that he was giving to the hospital not for what it is, but for what it could become. Bill would be tremendously proud of the beautiful facility and the outstanding care that this community has so generously supported. It is “a facility that now matches the medical expertise, care, and compassion of its wonderful staff,” said Joan Schreyer.
Pictured: Joan L. Schreyer and Barry S. Rabner, PHCS President and CEO, at the dedication of the Schreyer Education Center
Article as seen in Foundation News Fall/Winter 2016.