Greenwich Hospital officials this month dedicated the renamed Armin and Ethel Schaper Medical/Surgical Intensive Care Unit in honor of the parents of donors Elizabeth “Betsy” and Douglas Schaper.
The siblings”™ gift was the first major donation of the Armin and Ethel Schaper Charitable Foundation, which will focus on sustaining and improving medical care for people in crisis situations around the world and on helping animals that either have been rescued or trained as therapy aides or with other special needs. A spokeswoman said the foundation also will continue to support local medical and health organizations such as Greenwich Hospital.
Betsy Schaper, a New York City resident raised in Harrison, N.Y., in the home her parents shared for 57 years, described them as “humble and fine people” deserving of “a lasting legacy.” “Greenwich Hospital was a place that meant so very much to both of them, both for the care my father received and for how comfortable my mother felt there as his devoted caregiver,” she said.
“We are extremely grateful for the kindness and spirit that went into this generous gift,” said Greenwich Hospital President Frank Corvino. “This donation will help ensure that Greenwich Hospital can continue to serve patients and their families with the utmost excellence in care and attention to detail.”
Schaper said the donation especially was inspired by the compassionate and outstanding care given her father in the last decade of his life by Dr. Amory Fiore, a neurosurgeon at the hospital who performed spinal surgery on the retired businessman. In addition to his surgical and communication skills, the physician regularly visited the elder Schaper during his final hospital stay, often bringing with him his newborn baby to cheer up his patient. “This is a doctor who went way beyond the ordinary doctor-patient relationship,” Betsy Schaper said.
“Armin Schaper was a very warm and caring man,” said Dr. Fiore. “It was a privilege to have known him. He inspired me as a physician to provide the best care that I could to both my patients and their families.”
A highly decorated U.S. Navy bomber pilot in World War II, Armin Schaper married soon after returning from the war and joined his wife Ethel”™s father and brother as a part owner in the Delson Candy Co. in New York City. The company achieved great success with its signature MerriMints. In 1967, Schaper received the Kettle Award as “Candy Industry Man of the Year,” the industry”™s highest honor.
The family company was sold to Sara Lee Corp. in 1968, and Schaper served as a vice president with Sara Lee for four years. He retired at 54 and devoted his time to the Harrison community. He died at 88 in 2006. Ethel Schaper died last year at 87.
