<<  Back to Fund Listing Kreiter, Richard & Judy A Tribute to the Kreiters: Judy and Richard Kreiter are partners in philanthropy, committed to advancing the quality of life in our community. They have wide-ranging interests in health care, education, the arts, the environment and a myriad of socially useful programs to which they have contributed generously with time and talent, as well as financial support. Richard was born and raised in Davenport. His father, the superintendent of Pine Hill Cemetery, was a quiet man who ministered daily to the bereaved. Richard was educated in Davenport schools. He was a halfback on the Central High School football team, playing well enough to make the All-State team. Richard is a graduate of Grinnell College where he majored in Biology and Chemistry. After attending medical school at Columbia University for one year, he worked in a research lab and then continued his medical education at the University of Iowa, graduating in 1965. Richard completed a rotating internship at Cincinnati General Hospital and a year of general surgery residency at Gundersen Clinic in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Following military service during the Vietnam War in Saigon and at Valley Forge Orthopedic Hospital, he completed an orthopedic residency at the University of Tennessee Campbell Clinic in Memphis. Judy Lutz grew up in an unpretentious farm community in Illinois where she attended a one-room elementary school and a small high school. Her father died when she was in high school but her mother managed to send Judy and her two younger sisters to the University of Illinois. After graduation in 1957, Judy's first job was as a Physical Education teacher at Davenport High School. She then taught Physical Education at J. B. Young Junior High School for four years, and for two years in Iowa City after she and Richard were married. Judy met Richard in the fall of 1960 and they were married three years later. Their daughter, Paula, was born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin and their other daughter, Andrea, was born at Valley Forge. Their sons, David and Carl, were born in Memphis giving the Kreiters four children under six years of age. In 1972 Richard established an Orthopedic practice in Clinton and in 1976 in Davenport. Richard Kreiter has been a regular contributor to his alma maters, Grinnell College and the University of Iowa Medical School. He has supported St. Ambrose University in numerous ways, and when Richard and his colleagues moved from their office building on West Lombard Street, they donated it to St. Ambrose for use as the Children's Campus. With other colleagues, Richard helped the community center in DeWitt expand to become a center providing rural health care and currently he is developing a clinic in Durant to meet that community's medical needs. For many years Richard has been a strong supporter of St. Luke’s and Mercy Hospitals, now Genesis Medical Center. Currently he serves on the Genesis Foundation Board. The United Way of Scott and Rock Island Counties has benefited from Richard's years on the Board, most recently as chair of the medical division of the campaign. As a longtime member of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Richard has been active in many of the programs it sponsors, including Men In Mission and Camp Shalom, a Christian Camp for Youth and Families near Maquoketa. Judy Kreiter has worked side-by-side with her husband at Camp Shalom and a year ago participated in the Youth Mission trip to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. She served for two years as President of the Congregation Council. Outstanding in Judy's community involvement has been her work with the Mississippi Valley Girl Scout Council and with the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend. Judy's interest in scouting began when she was teaching at J. B. Young and served as advisor to the Senior Scout Program. Soon after that, she spent three summers as the Assistant Director of Camp Conestoga, and three more years as the Director. Some years later, she was elected to the Girl Scout Council Board and, as its President, provided the leadership for its building campaign and self-evaluation program. Judy was elected to the Board of the Davenport Area Foundation in 1992 and soon after became its President. Through her vision and leadership, the Foundation evolved into the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend with new challenges and opportunities to respond to an expanding community and its increasing needs. Having completed her seven-year term on the Board, with two of these years as Board President, Judy continues to serve on the Asset Development Committee which now is addressing the role of women in philanthropy. As often as Richard and Judy are found chairing a Board or attending a committee meeting, they turn up clearing the land, cooking at Camp Shalom, helping at the Community Foundation Office, or caring for a friend. The Kreiters have touched many parts of the community and many lives with their generosity and compassion. Richard Kreiter's identity is in his work as a physician, Judy's in her work as a community volunteer. Both have an identity in philanthropy and in their children. It is in this context that they have established a Charitable Remainder Trust (The Kreiter Family Fund) with the Community Foundation. After their deaths the income from the Kreiter Family Fund is to be distributed by the Foundation upon advice of their four children. When the last child dies the Kreiter Family Fund is to become part of the Foundation’s unrestricted endowment. The Kreiters intent is “to nourish the idea of giving in our children's hearts and minds. Our children know what has been important to us and will relate that to what matters in their lifetimes.” <<  Back to Fund Listing