Benefits Regional Academic Health Center
HARLINGEN (May 14, 2012) — Born July 3rd, Col. H. William “Bill” Card Jr. described himself as “a firecracker that couldn’t wait.” As citizens of South Texas soon discovered, that statement was not far from the truth.
During his 12 years as mayor of Harlingen, Col. Card took up the cause of bringing a medical school to the city. His persistence, along with that of other champions, paid off and the Regional Academic Health Center (RAHC) Harlingen campus — a geographically separate campus of The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio — officially opened its doors June 28, 2002.
Today with the RAHC’s 10th anniversary approaching, its regional dean, Leonel Vela, M.D., M.P.H., of the School of Medicine at the UT Health Science Center, thought it a wonderful time to pay tribute to Col. Card and permanently recognize his role in the establishment of the RAHC. With permission from the Card family, Dr. Vela is leading a fundraising campaign to create the RAHC’s very first academic endowment and name it after Col. Card. The Colonel H. William Card, Jr. Endowed Professorship will ensure that his legacy of advocacy for education and health care for citizens in the Rio Grande Valley lives on in perpetuity.
Mrs. Garrison Card shared, “There are no adequate words to express how much it means to have Bill honored by the RAHC in this way. It gives our family great pleasure to know that his endowment will allow for funding, in perpetuity, the education and personal growth of individuals who can continue the legacy of positive change that was the cornerstone of Bill’s hope for the Rio Grande Valley.”
Faculty members of the RAHC, members of the greater Harlingen community and friends of Col. Card are invited to participate.
“Medical education in South Texas would not be where it is today without the tireless efforts of a remarkable man, former Mayor Bill Card,” said Francisco González-Scarano, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio.
The campaign completion date is June 2012. Dr. Vela looks forward to announcing its establishment at the RAHC’s 10th Anniversary Celebration on June 14 – a most fitting occasion for this special tribute endowment.
Col. Card passed away on July 18, 2010 and left behind a legacy of service to his country. He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve on his 17th birthday in 1939 and was sworn in by his father, Brig. Gen. Horace W. Card, USMC. His service to his country included action aboard the USS Pennsylvania, where he participated in the defense of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941; in the Roi-Namur Islands Operation of the Marshall Islands campaign in 1944; in the Saipan Island campaign as well as on Tinian Island, Mariana Islands; and at Iwo Jima.
During the Korean War, he took part in the landing at Inchon and fought in the liberation of Seoul. After making the landing at Wonsan, he participated in the fight north to the Chosin Reservoir.
For more information about this campaign, contact Kim Warshauer at (210) 567-0242 or Warshauer@uthscsa.edu. To make a donation online, visit: https://makelivesbetter.uthscsa.edu/rahc
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 3 percent of all institutions worldwide receiving federal funding. Research and other sponsored program activity totaled $231 million in fiscal year 2011. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced approximately 26,000 graduates. The $736 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.