A Fund Established Decades Ago to Honor One Man’s Memory Inspires Generosity Across Generations

Sifting through a stack of family papers after the death of her uncle in July 2005, North Carolina nurse Lori Campbell, RN, came across some items that piqued her curiosity — a letter from Massachusetts General Hospital, dated January 8, 1960, stuck to a few decades-old newspaper clippings paying tribute to the memory of Terry Shuman, a grandfather who had passed away when Mrs. Campbell was still an infant. To her surprise, both the letter and the clippings made note of the Terry Shuman Memorial Fund for Medical Research at Mass General.

After some further digging and a few phone calls to Boston, Mrs. Campbell discovered an endowment fund established by Ms. Campbell’s paternal grandmother, Grace Shuman, in memory of her beloved husband. Dedicated to the Department of Neurology at MGH, the Terry Shuman Memorial Fund helps support research on cerebral hemorrhage, the type of stroke which led to Mr. Shuman’s sudden death in 1957. The terms of the gift also set aside funding for the Department of Neurology Library, so that the collection might be updated with the most recent publications on stroke research, prevention and treatment. Mrs. Grace Shuman continued to make contributions to the Terry Shuman Memorial Fund for decades until her own death in the late 1970s.

Though Mrs. Campbell was too young in 1957 to remember her grandfather personally, she developed a special connection to him through memories cherished and recounted to her by other family members.

“My father adored his dad as did my mother, and both my father and my uncle bore a striking resemblance to him,” she says. “I found many indications in my grandparents’ papers and notes that they loved each other deeply. I think my grandmother was deeply traumatized by this loss and felt that establishing this fund in her husband’s honor was a constructive way to handle her feelings.” When Mrs. Campbell’s father, R. Richard (“Dick”) Shuman, also suffered a massive stroke late in life, her understanding of Grace’s painful loss was only strengthened.

Inspired by her grandfather’s memory and her grandmother’s generosity, Mrs. Campbell and her husband Dave made the decision to continue in Grace Shuman’s footsteps — naming Mass General’s Department of Neurology a beneficiary of their will as well as making annual contributions to the hospital.

“Mass General has an excellent reputation for ethically conducted research, for delivering quality patient care and a commitment to community service — all three were highly important qualities for us when we were considering how to distribute our assets,” says Mrs. Campbell of electing to give generously to an institution so far from her North Carolina home.

Revisiting the original agreement with MGH staff, Mrs. Campbell and her husband chose to revise the terms of the Terry Shuman Memorial Fund to include support for unrestricted clinical research projects at MGH, renaming the fund the Terry Shuman Fund for Neurology to reflect the broader purpose. It was a change they felt was essential to driving Mass General’s cutting-edge work forward in the 21^st century.

“As a nurse, I’ve been fortunate to have worked in the field of clinical research for the past 17 years,” says Mrs. Campbell. “It’s an art as well as a science — and even research that ‘fails’ brings us closer to understanding paths to treatment. My husband’s family and my own have been affected by devastating neurological diseases, and we are committed to supporting clinical research in this area.”

The most effective support for pre-clinical and clinical research projects, the couple believes, comes from unrestricted funding sources — donations with few and flexible limitations.

“Unrestricted funds make it possible to support the most exciting projects of the moment,” says Anne B. Young, MD, PhD, chief of the MGH Department of Neurology, who is grateful to the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Shuman before them. “Such support can help us buy a crucial piece of equipment, recruit key new personnel, retain critical faculty and support teaching and training.”

Mrs. Campbell is thankful, too, for the opportunity old family papers provided her to reconnect with her grandparents, to learn more about their lives and the deep love they shared. And she’s pleased to know that she and her husband can honor Terry and Grace Shuman’s legacy while supporting breakthrough neurological research with a single gift.

“As much as we can, we want to help bring innovative, safe and effective treatment options to patients suffering as our family members did,” says Mrs. Campbell. “With the Terry Shuman Memorial Fund already at such an august institution, it was only logical to continue what my grandmother already started, here at Mass General.”