Dr. Ursula Ruwe

1925 - 2015

(News article) Dr. Ursula Ruwe, a family practice physician who demanded fair treatment for her patients as they navigated the medical system, died April 4, in Central Florida Regional Hospital, Sanford, Fla. She was 89.

She had an aortic aneurysm and had broken a hip in late March, her son Thomas said.

Dr. Ruwe lived with her daughter, Suzanne, the last five years at Lake Mary, Fla.. She and her late husband, Dr. Franz Ruwe, moved to Florida in the 1990s. They formerly lived in West Toledo and in Lambertville and then raised sheep on 48 acres in rural Monroe County.

She and her husband retired in the early 1990s from the family practice on West Sylvania Avenue and Drummond Road that they shared with Dr. Erich Kristen and earlier Dr. John Erkert.

"She was a very considerate and dignified woman," said Dr. Kristen's son Stefan. "My father always thought highly of her as a physician, and as a family we always thought highly of her as a friend."

The practice was considered large in an era when many doctors were solo practitioners, said Myra Condon, the office manager. Dr. Ruwe had high regard for patients and office staff alike, Mrs. Condon said.

"She was kind and gentle. She was an all-around lovely person," Mrs. Condon said.

Dr. Ruwe was used to making her own way through a world of male doctors, her son said, and was displeased when she learned a woman patient of hers had not been treated well by a specialist.

"She was up to the task of advocating for her patients to the nth degree, that was particularly true for female patients," her son said.

Mr. Kristen recalled: "She was professionally very confident."

She was born July 21, 1925, in Potsdam, Germany, to Erna and Ulrich Baltzer. Her father was a physician, and as World War II ended and Russian troops advanced, the family fled west and found refuge in Hanover.

Dr. Ruwe received her medical degree from the University of Goettingen, where she met her husband. They moved to the United States in 1954, settling in Toledo. He - and eventually she - were on staff at Flower Hospital.

They also taught in the early years of the Medical College of Ohio. She stayed home for several years, though, to care for their children.

"She was a very traditional person in that regard," her son Thomas said.

The couple became citizens in 1962, and they stayed in Toledo "because they felt that this was the place that allowed them to get out of Europe after the war, and they had a responsibility to help the people," their son said.

"Toledo was a seriously blue collar town back then. Those are the kind of people they identified with.

"They didn't come to the United States to get rich. They came to the United States to help people," he said. "My parents consciously avoided the whole social milieu of practicing medicine."

She was a member of Augsburg Lutheran Church.

Her husband died Aug. 30, 2001.

Surviving are her sons Thomas and Mark Ruwe; daughter, Suzanne Ruwe, and five grandchildren. Burial is to be at 2 p.m. today at Venice Memorial Gardens in Venice, Fla.

This story was written by Blade Staff Writer Mark Zaborney. Contact him at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.