Dr. Richard John Rust
Cincinnati Enquirer, Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Dr. Richard J Rust, a surgeion who helped advance the medical profession in Northern Kentucky, died Sunday at St Luke Hospital. He was 94. A Newport physician, he finished medical school t the age of 21. He had tried to enroll in the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine when he was 16, but he was too young. He became the youngest doctor ever graduated by the medical school with both bachelor and MD degrees.
Seeing the need for a hospital in Campbell County, Dr. Rust helped raise money to build St Luke in 1954. Although he never turned away a patient for the inability to pay, he recognized the need for insurance that reimbursed doctors and not just hospitals.
So he became a founding board member of Kentucky Physicians Mutual, the first statewide insurance plan that provided coverage for doctor visits. It later became the Kentucky Blue Shield Insurance Co. Dr. Rust also established and served on the boards of Lakeside Place Nursing Home in Highland Heights and St Charles Care Center in Covington, where he lieved for the past four years. Born in Newport, he attended St Vincent dePaul School and graduated from the Covington Latin School and Xavier University.
He completed his surgical residency at Speers Hospital and practiced for four months before being inducted intothe Army during World War II. He served in the Medical Corps in the South Pacific commanding a medical ship. He had the rank of major. After the war, he established his practice and hired a nurse named Lorraine Huck. They married four years later. He practiced in Newport until retiring in 1986.
Survivors include his wife, Lorraine Huck Rust; two sons, Richard John Rust Jr. of South Lebanon, and Robert David Rust of Villa Hills; two daughters, Patricia Kovacs of Chicago and Lorraine Rust-Kileen of Louisville; four sisters, Edna O'Connor of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Lillian O'Dell of Colerain, LaVerne Wehrman of Mount Washington and Helen Enzweiler of Southgate; a brother, Milton Rust of Southgate; 11 grandchildren; and a great granddaughter.
Mass is 10 am Tuesday at St Catherine of Siena Church, 1803 N Fort Thomas Ave. Fort Thomas, followed by a reception in the church undercroft. Dr. Rust's remains were donated to the UC College of Medicine.