Legacy of Ruth Stief Supports Program She Founded

Winter 2007

Gutsy. Ahead of her time. Pioneering. That's how colleagues describe Ruth Stief, founder of the public health nutrition program—one of the country's first—in 1963. Generous comes up often, too.

Stief, who recently died at age 94, directed the SPH public health nutrition program for 13 years. She also supported the program by establishing the Ruth E. Stief Public Health Nutrition Fund in 1985. She contributed $130,000 to the endowed fund during her lifetime and another $700,000 through her estate after death. Her gift will support faculty research and program development, and with impact doubled by the University's President's Scholarship Match, the Ruth E. Stief Scholarship Fund will provide full support for five new students each year.

"Ruth was always generous with her time and money," says SPH professor Mary Story, a friend of Stief's since the early 1980s. "It showed her firm belief in the program."

When Stief established the program, nutrition wasn't widely viewed as a public health issue, says SPH instructor Bea Krinke. "Ruth pioneered a new way of looking at how to be a nutritionist, how to think about people's eating habits and health."

Krinke and Story regularly visited Stief after she retired in 1976 and moved to Winona, Minn., her childhood home. "Ruth loved a good story," says Krinke. "She wanted to stay informed. It was that spirit of engagement that made her such a leader."

To honor Stief, the public health nutrition program each year gives a star student a leadership award in her name.

Exemplary. Stief remains the model. "In a sense, Ruth is leading us still with her generous estate gift," says SPH Dean John Finnegan. "Her legacy will help build a better world."