Dr. Elizabeth Ruppert

1936 - 2023

News story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer

Dr. Elizabeth Ruppert, a pediatrician and a professor emeritus of the former Medical College of Ohio, who was widely respected for the care she offered and the programs she developed to aid children with disabilities and other needs, died Thursday at Western Reserve Hospice Center in Westlake, Ohio. She was 86.

The cause was complications of a stroke suffered June 11, her daughter Becky Ruppert McMahon said.

She and her late husband, Dr. Richard Ruppert, made Ottawa Hills their home after he became third president of MCO in 1977. She lived most recently at Arden Courts Memory Care Community in Westlake.

"The community has lost a treasure," said Beverly McBride, a longtime friend and retired general counsel of The Andersons.

Dr. Ruppert - known to many as "Libby" - was a former president of the Ohio chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which has named its "outstanding pediatrician of the year award" after her.

"If you knew my mother, you knew she lights up when children came into the room," Ms. McMahon said. "There has always been a special affinity between Libby and children."

Her interest in children with particular needs had a family origin. Her daughter, Libby, was born deaf.

"My parents both learned very quickly and very personally how stacked the cards are against a child who is anything less than fully able," Ms. McMahon said.

She spoke out at the local, state, and national levels for children and families.

"Whatever the disability she was ready to fight for those kids, because they have too few advocates in the world," Ms. McMahon said.

She received a Jefferson Award in 2010 in honor of her public service in northwest Ohio. She'd helped develop the EduCare Center and the Anne Grady Prescribed Pediatric Center "based on the experience that families needed a site where they could have children with and without special needs receive quality day treatment," Dr. Ruppert told The Blade in 2013. The centers have given children of differing levels of need and development a chance to interact as well.

She was an inductee to the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame.

"Libby will be remembered as a giant in pediatrics, especially in Ohio," said Dr. Judy Romano, also a past president of the Ohio chapter of the pediatrics academy. "As a recipient of her mentorship, I learned how to bring pediatrics out of the office to other venues such as child care, early literacy initiatives, and policy development for infants, children, and their families."

Dr. Mary Smith, a professor emeritus at what is now the University of Toledo college of medicine and life sciences, said: "She changed people's lives.

"She was a remarkable woman," said Dr. Smith, a hematologist, also a 1977 arrival to the still-young MCO, with her late husband, Dr. Hollis Merrick III, a professor of surgery. "I thought of her as somebody who didn't take no for an answer when she had a plan."

Dr. Ruppert's husband is credited with overseeing multimillion-building projects on the campus and hiring academics and clinicians to staff it.

"He gave us the physical plant to grow in," Dr. Smith said. "They both were very intelligent and motivated people, and they put the future of the then-MCO at the heart of what they were doing. They were also involved in the community and were looking for ways to make Toledo a better, healthier place to live and work."

Mary Sabin, a friend and a Lourdes University vice president, said: "They were a power couple before there was such a thing.

"They were powered by love," she said. "They loved and supported each other. It was what marriage and life should be. They were funny and had a lot of fun and enjoyed life and the beauty of Lake Erie and the importance of family."

Dr. Richard Ruppert notably served as board chairman of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. She was first woman board chairman of the United Way of Greater Toledo and she helped lead an initiative to spur other women to donate to the agency, with the money directed to causes in support of women and children.

Sarah Elizabeth Spencer was born June 28, 1936, in Cleveland to Genevieve and Mark Spencer. She declared at age 5 that she didn't like her first name and that she should be called Libby thereafter. She grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and was a 1954 graduate of Hathaway Brown, a private girls school there. She graduated from Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans after three years. She was a 1961 graduate of Ohio State University's medical school, where she met her husband.

The example of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in the United States with a medical degree inspired her. Despite skepticism from some - but not her father - "she established for herself a pathway that was absolutely going to get her to and through medical school," Ms. McMahon said. "She always listened to her internal voice. Her vision for herself and her recognition of her self-worth was strong."

She and her husband married Aug. 31, 1959. He died Oct. 22, 2012.

Surviving are her daughters Vicky Ridge, Libby Ruppert, Becky Ruppert McMahon, and Julie Schulte, and seven grandchildren.

A celebration of life event will be from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. July 8 at the Catawba Island Club in Port Clinton, where she and her husband were members.

The family suggests tributes to the Ohio American Academy of Pediatrics Foundation or any organization that improves the health of Ohio's children.