New faces, steadfast vision

By Paul Swegler
Foundation Director of Development

The Texas Academy of Family Physicians Foundation was established over 40 years ago. A legacy of the founders’ vision is that core philosophy of the Foundation has remained the same throughout these many years. The mission of the Foundation is to support education, scientific and charitable initiatives for the specialty of family practice and to improve the health of all Texans. In the last decade, your Foundation has experienced tremendous growth, especially with the establishment of permanently endowed scholarships.

At the 2001 Annual Session, a new Scholarship was announced honoring Sam Nixon, M.D., who has served as a board member, officer and for the last two years as the president of the Foundation.  Dr. Nixon’s legacy to the AAFP, TAFP and the TAFP Foundation is enormous and may never be duplicated. Few men are so willing to give of their time, money and service. I feel honored to have had the opportunity to work with him.

David Pillow, M.D., has also established a new scholarship. He has assigned the proceeds of two life insurance policies to fund this scholarship. His generous donation is made in the hopes that other physicians will see fit to make more generous contributions to the TAFP Foundation.

The TAFP Foundation has a core group of donors who generously give every year. However, less than 15 percent of the members of the Texas Academy give to the Foundation. Other more heavily endowed Foundations will help fund projects of the Foundation, but some have a requirement of 25 percent of the membership to be givers to the Foundation. Your Foundation needs your help. Many of you check off the donation attached to your annual dues statement from the AAFP. These donations are shared with the TAFP Foundation and we thank you for your generous support and encourage you to continue with your annual donation.

It is critically important to have as many of the members of the Texas Academy participate in the financial support of our Foundation, and any contribution of any amount is deeply appreciated. It is never an easy thing to ask others to give money, but this year I ask you to speak to your fellow family physicians, and ask if they are donors to the Foundation. If they do not give, ask them to consider the dues check off or a direct donation to the Foundation—again, any contribution of any amount is deeply appreciated. The TAFP Foundation would like to leverage our dollars with the money from other Foundations. We can only do that with the added support of more of our members. If each physician will seek out three colleagues who become donors, we can reach our goal of 25 percent of the members being donors to the Foundation. Please, will you consider helping the Founders of the Foundation fulfill their mission, which is our mission?

The tradition of the southern gentleman is one of respect for tradition of country, church and religion. It embodies respect for others in a courtly manner. On the evening of the inauguration of new officers for the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, David J. Pillow, M.D. of Colleyville, Texas, indicated that he wished to honor incoming president Justin Bartos, M.D. by establishing a new scholarship. Always the southern gentleman, Dr. Pillow did not seek out recognition or praise, rather he simply stated that he wished to honor his former partner on the evening of his inauguration.

Dr. Pillow is funding the scholarship by assigning the proceeds of two life insurance policies that he purchased as a resident. The dividends from the cash value will begin funding the scholarship this year so its value will grow even before his death. “My children and wife are taken care of, and they know that I want to do this,” Pillow says. He is concerned about the growing indebtedness of medical students and wants to be able to help students from Tarrant County by establishing this scholarship. He says that he hopes that his donation will spur other physicians to become more generous donors to the Foundation.

Dr. Pillow was the first board-certified Family Physician to direct the John Peter Smith Residency Program in Fort Worth. After leaving the John Peter Smith Program, Dr. Pillow became a partner of the North Hills Family Practice where he met Dr. Bartos. His interest in education is also evidenced by his serving as a professor at the University of Arlington where he taught pharmacology to the nurse practitioner students for many years. Today he enjoys his retirement in Northeast Tarrant County where he is still an active participant in the Tarrant County Chapter of TAFP.