Dr. William K. Schubert, 1926-2012
The Cincinnati Children’s community mourns the passing of one of our greatest leaders, William Kuenneth Schubert, MD.
In a career spanning nearly 50 years at Cincinnati Children’s, Dr. Schubert dedicated his life to improving the health of children in our community and around the world.
He made immeasurable contributions as a physician, child advocate, researcher, teacher, mentor and leader.
And throughout his career, he gave generously to support the work of the institution he loved.
A Cincinnati native, Dr. Schubert attended the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and completed his pediatric residency and fellowship training at Cincinnati Children’s. After seven years in private practice, he joined Cincinnati Children’s full time in 1963, as the founding director of the Clinical Research Center. In 1968, he established the Division of Gastroenterology. He also served as director of the pediatric residency program and chief-of-staff. He went on to be chairman of the Department of Pediatrics and director of the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation (1979-93) and president and CEO (1983-96).
Dr. Schubert was a compassionate physician, a brilliant diagnostician and an outstanding educator. He inspired generations of pediatricians and pediatric specialists.
As a scientist, he did important research on liver disease, cholesterol, iron deficiency and Reye syndrome. He was a model of the clinician / researcher and encouraged physicians to pursue research careers.
As a child advocate, he was a spokesman for the position that no child should be turned away for lack of ability to pay. He worked tirelessly to pass the Hamilton County Health and Hospitalization tax levy and to consolidate pediatric care at Cincinnati Children’s, so that all kids could be treated equally.
Under his leadership as chairman of Pediatrics and president and CEO, Cincinnati Children’s grew in clinical and research programs, recruited world-class talent and added new facilities. After he retired in 1996, Dr. Schubert continued to serve Cincinnati Children’s as a trustee, advisor and elder statesman.
