Q-C doctor was 'angel' to students, homeless

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By Alma Gaul | Thursday, May 10, 2007 1:13 AM CDT | () comments

Four families have homes because of him.

Dozens of Davenport public school students have become medical doctors because of him.

Thousands of art lovers have viewed vivid works of Haitian art at the Figge Art Museum because of him.

Trees have been planted, homeless teens have been sheltered, theater productions have been staged, Davenport’s Nahant Marsh has been improved, the Quad-City Symphony has performed, St. Ambrose University’s Christ the King Chapel has been restored and the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House has been built — all with the help of money donated by Dr. Walter Neiswanger, a former Davenport pathologist.

It is no exaggeration to say that Neiswanger was an angel, and when he died Wednesday, those whose lives he touched were quick to explain how this quiet, gentle man had made a difference in the Quad-Cities.

“We called him ‘the angel of Habitat,’ ” said Kristi Craft, Habitat’s executive director.

“He felt that he had been blessed and that he had an obligation — it wasn’t a choice, it was an obligation — to give back to the community. He felt he had a duty to see that his money was used effectively to help people. I hear a lot of people say that, but he meant it from the heart.”

Neiswanger never married, and, as he told the Quad-City Times a couple of years ago, he lived simply and invested wisely. That was why he was able to give away literally millions of dollars in his lifetime. Until he moved to a new condominium a couple of years ago, he had lived all his life in his parents’ bungalow on West 30th Street in Davenport. He was in his mid-80s when he died.

He was born in Davenport and graduated from the former Davenport High School. He attended what then was St. Ambrose College for a year with the intention of becoming a chemist before his experience as a World War II Army medic diverted him to medicine, according to a 1968 article published in the Times Democrat.

He graduated from the Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University in Chicago and interned at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. After a four-year residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., he returned to Davenport.

His generosity was legendary, and it covered a wide range.

He gave $1 million to help build the Figge Art Museum, and his personal collection of Haitian art is the backbone of the museum’s Haitian collection, the first of its kind in the United States.

Neiswanger once said he got involved in art because he believed “artwork belongs to the people.”

He also was devoted to helping young people, establishing the Dr. Thomas A. Dooley Memorial Scholarship in 1965 to help pay for the education of a Davenport public school student who wants to become a doctor. Last year’s award was for $20,000.

The scholarship was named for Dooley, a former naval doctor who ministered to Laotians, a man whom Neiswanger admired.

During a speech he gave in 1982, Neiswanger said he funded the scholarship because youth are the future of our society and civilization.

And he did not just give money to young people. He became involved in their lives.

Kate Ridge, director of John Lewis Community Services in Davenport, said Neiswanger often came down to a youth shelter on Davenport’s West 5th Street to eat pizza with the kids.

“They called him ‘one hip doc,’ ” she said.

It was Neiswanger’s money — more than $200,000 in the past three years — that helped pay for the shelter. He got involved with John Lewis in 2004 because he “wanted to diversify his philanthropy,” she said.

In 1994, Neiswanger funded “Jesus Christ Superstar,” the first production of the former Ghostlight Theater.

“He was the reason Ghostlight existed over the 10 years of its various incarnations,” said Melissa Coulter, the theater’s former artistic director. “He was the major angel. He funded the shows. At ‘Das Barbecu,’ a musical comedy based on Wagner’s (work), he was at every rehearsal doing the audience participation part. He liked shows with large casts that would involve a lot of young people.”

He helped finance the education of several students he met through the theater, Coulter added.

“He just kind of meets people and falls in love with them and helps them out,” she said. “He could have done anything he wanted with his money, (but) he gave it to causes he felt were important. He didn’t do it to puff himself up, he did it because he thought it was the right thing to do.”

Nahant Marsh was a beneficiary because of money he gave to the Quad-City Sierra Club. Member Jerry Neff recalled the night Neiswanger called about making a donation. “I about dropped the phone,” Neff said.

In addition to Nahant restoration, money went to an environmental film festival and education.

Neiswanger endowed two $50,000 chairs for the Quad-City Symphony, a gesture that executive director Lance Willett called unprecedented. “That is an extraordinary show of support for the orchestra,” he said.

St. Ambrose received $100,000 to restore its chapel, and the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House fundraising goal went over the top with a $300,000 gift a year ago.

Debby Stafford, hospice campaign co-chairwoman, said Neiswanger cared about a place where terminally ill people could die with dignity because his brother was not treated with respect in his final days.

“There are so many people whose lives he touched — you could write pages and pages,” Coulter said.

Ridge summed it up. “He had a love of art and travel, but, really, in the end, his love was for his community.”

Arrangements are pending at Runge Mortuary in Davenport.

Alma Gaul can be contacted at (563) 383-2324 or agaul@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at www.qctimes.com.