Edward Kinzer, MD

Distinguished Service Award

(2015) Edward Kinzer, MD ’52, had a solo general practice in Johnstown, Colorado, from 1954 to 1992. Before establishing his practice, he pursued an interest in missionary medicine and providing care in war-related conditions.

He cared for patients at Chicuque Rural Hospital in Mozambique and his curriculum vitae includes a statement in memory of three School of Medicine graduates who survived the Bataan Death March. U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps survivors of that tragedy have invited him to attend their POW reunions in northern Colorado,Montana, and New Mexico.

Kinzer has served on Colorado Medical Society grievance and rural health committees, been president of the Weld County Medical Society, been president of the Johnstown/Milliken School Board, and has been on staff and served on committees at North Colorado Medical Center.

In 1999, Kinzer and four classmates established the Class of 1952 Endowment Fund to honor their upcoming 50th reunion. Kinzer and his classmate, Cal Oba, MD ’52, each gave $5,000. Kinzer offered a specific instruction that the distributable earnings of that $10,000 be reinvested until 2052–100 years after he and his classmates graduated. At that point, annual distributions should be used at the direction of the Dean and Alumni Board of Directors, to advance the mission of the school.

Last fall, Kinzer established a second “100-year Endowment” for the School of Medicine: the Class of 2019 Endowment Fund, in honor of his 1952 classmates. That fund will begin distributing in 2119, and, like its 1952 counterpart, will provide unrestricted funds to the School of Medicine. His vision is to establish new 100-year endowments each year, for the remainder of his lifetime.