News from Illinois Wesleyan

May 5, 2002
Contact: Jeffery G. Hanna, 309/556-3181

Robert M. Reardon Receives Honorary Degree from IWU

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Dr. Robert M. Reardon, former president of the Illinois State Medical Society, was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters from Illinois Wesleyan University during commencement exercises on May 5.

Reardon graduated from Poly Prep Country Day Schoolin Brooklyn, N.Y., attended Virginia Military Institute, and received his bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. He earned his medical degree from the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center at Brooklyn, serving his internship and residency at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. After serving as Chief of Ophthalmology at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., he began a 32-year affiliation with the Gailey Eye Clinic in Bloomington.

Reardon, a member of Illinois Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees from 1978 to 2002, twice served at Hospital Albert Schweitzer in Haiti, where he reestablished ophthalmic services, including surgery. He is a founding member of the Community Health Care Clinic, which has provided free medical services in McLean County, Ill., for nearly eight years. He studied health care systems in Russia, China, and Canada, and was adjunct professor of biology at Illinois State University 25 years, teaching a course on the eye to students who would teach children with hardships.

As president of the 18,000-member Illinois State medical Society from 1989 through 1992, Reardon was in the forefront of discussions regarding the Clinton Administration proposals for national health care reform. As past ISMS president, he initiated a statewide conference on establishing free medical clinics with Illinois now the leading state in providing such clinics in the United States. He continues to serve on the Board of Governors and committees of the Illinois State medical Inter-Insurance Exchange Mutual, the sixth-largest medical malpractice insurance company in the United States.

As a member of the IWU Board of Trustees, Reardon chaired the Academic Affairs Committee and served as Secretary and First Vice President of the Board. He was a member of the Presidential Search Committee in 1989 when Minor Myers jr. was selected as president and was also on the 1990 Campaign for Illinois Wesleyan as well as specific campaigns for the Center for Natural Sciences and The Ames Library. Reardon retires from the IWU Board of trustees this year and will continue as an Emeritus Trustee.

Dr. Robert Reardon receives his honorary degree during IWU's commencement exercises. From left, Provost Janet McNew, Dr. Reardon, Board of Trustee Chairman Craig C. Hart, and President Minor Myers jr.