Jennifer Cherest and Dayton Opera chorus director Jeffrey Powell performed a setting of the 23rd Psalm. Cellist Christina Coletta and pianist Joshua Nemith of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra played “Meditation” from the Jules Massenet opera “Thais.”
Afterwards, family, associates, friends and acquaintances gathered in the Wintergarden of the downtown Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center to remember the Milwaukee native, who was medical director of the Kettering Cardiovascular Institute, a clinical professor of medicine at the Wright State University School of Medicine and director of the Cardiac Diagnostic and Interventional Laboratory at Kettering Medical Center from 1968 to 2000.
Dr. Schuster oversaw establishment of Kettering Medical Center’s heart catheterization lab in the 1960s, treated hundreds of patients, helped train many physicians and, along with his wife of 55 years, Marian Mayerson Schuster, contributed millions of dollars to the Dayton area’s performing arts community. His wife died in 2007.
Michael J. Brendel, vice president for clinical services and the cardiac service line at Kettering Medical Center, said Dr. Schuster had remained active at KMC’s Schuster Heart Hospital until about two months ago, continuing to prepare lectures and critique residents in the cardiovascular fellowship program.
Dr. Schuster spoke briefly Friday morning with acquaintances in and near the lobby of the Performance Place tower, where he had a condominium, flashing his characteristic smile.
“My father had been ill for a long time. He had recently been hospitalized, but he continued to live his life, see his friends and stay involved in the things that meant so much to him,” his daughter, Karen Brace of Boston, said Monday after the funeral, which was to be followed by burial in Cincinnati.
A Dayton native, she said an outpouring of reminiscences from those who had known her father, been treated by him, or witnessed his care for others indicated his true legacy.
“Ben Schuster didn’t always have buildings with his name on them. He grew up an orphan. He came to Dayton as a young physician with a new wife. He chose this area to be close to my mother’s very close-knit family in Cincinnati, but he also identified Dayton as a community with a need for his services,” she said. “Look what he’s built here.”
Brendel said Dr. Schuster “was very dedicated to make things better in an affirming way. He was one of the most engaging people you could have the privilege to meet. He interacted easily with others from all walks of life. He never cheated anyone with his smile.”
A grand office with a sweeping view was built for him in the new Schuster Heart Hospital.
“We thought it was worthy of a king holding court. But it was just the opposite with him. He asked to move downstairs to a smaller office where he could mingle with the other employees,” Brendel said.
“Ben epitomized the American dream. He was the child of German and Lithuanian parents, born in the middle of the country in humble circumstances. He succeeded well and gave it all back.”
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