A Living Legacy to Support Aspiring Osteopathic Physicians
For UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine alumnus Wayne J. Reynolds, D.O. '89, it seems only natural to give back to the university that helped position him for a successful, rewarding career in family medicine. Dr. Reynolds, who this year became only the second doctor of osteopathic medicine to serve as president of the Virginia Board of Medicine, and was the first osteopathic physician to serve as president of the Virginia Academy of Family Physicians, recently entered into a planned gift arrangement with UNE valued at approximately $500,000. This pledge calls for UNE to one-day receive a percentage of his estate to fund a scholarship for future COM students aspiring to careers in family medicine.
"Without UNE and the education it provided me, I would not be where I am today," Dr. Reynolds reflects. "The University helped create the foundation upon which I built my career."
Dr. Reynolds, who is a family medicine practitioner and medical examiner in Gloucester, Virginia, and has also held various professional board appointments at the state and national levels through the years, has always made time to keep in touch with the classmates, faculty and administrators with whom he shared his UNE experience. His class of 80 students developed close relationships during time spent together at Stella Maris Hall. He shared a waterfront home at Granite Point with two of his classmates. He worked part-time in the Ketchum Library and served as an anatomy tutor in his second year and in the lab setting up for the micro labs.
Dr. Reynolds has visited campus a few times since graduation and each year takes an international trip with his classmate and best friend Craig Ryan, D.O.'89, with whom he has visited all seven continents. "Craig and I were lab partners in first year anatomy class and we have been best friends ever since," Dr. Reynolds explains. "We bonded over our cadaver!"
The UNE campus and facilities have grown quite a bit since Dr. Reynolds was a student in Biddeford and osteopathic medicine has become more relevant to the American health care system, but much about the UNE COM program has remained the same. Contributing in his own way to that enduring legacy was a motivator for Dr. Reynolds. "From the start, I was interested in family medicine and the holistic approach of the osteopathic profession," he explains. "My education gave me the knowledge and skills to treat the mind, body and spirit. I've tried to remain faithful to that principle in practice, applying it to family medicine where I take care of the whole family from birth until death."
Shortly after the sudden and unexpected passing of his wife Stephanie in 2014, after 25 years of marriage, Dr. Reynolds began to think about the legacy they would leave behind. Although he's only 59 years old and in good health, he felt the time was right to meet with his financial planner and to better organize their estate. Stephanie and Wayne first met on an earlier international trip through Russia and Scandinavia in 1984. After briefly working for the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., Mrs. Reynolds became a school teacher after moving to America from Australia in 1985. "Education was and has always been a priority for Stephanie and me, both for our two children -- Tristan and Ashley -- and ourselves, so creating a sustainable scholarship, we felt, would be the best way to help future generations."
Working with UNE Senior Advancement Officer Joan Fischer, Dr. Reynolds was able to craft a planned gift that allows him to contribute to UNE in the way that is most important to him. It meant a lot to him that he could ensure the gift would be used for students committed to careers in family practice. He is still deciding whether the scholarships granted in his and his wife's names will be awarded on the basis of academic merit or financial need or a combination of both.
"I have high regard for UNE for helping to educate me in such a way that I've been able to do well financially and give back to society," explains Dr. Reynolds. "With the cost of post-graduate education becoming so astronomically high, being able to provide a sustainable scholarship was very appealing to me as a way to give back to the institution that has allowed me to do so well and help future generations of medical students." Dr. Reynolds looks forward to his continued work with UNE COM and continued support of the University in the future.
We would look forward to talking with you about crafting a planned gift that supports UNE students and the programs that are most important to you. Please contact us.