Uncommon Kindness Inspires Scholarship Bequest

Ginny Poole Brinthaupt recalls fondly the stories her father, Thomas Robert Poole, M.D., shared with her about the kindness of others he experienced throughout his life.

Few among those people had more of an impact than his mentor, Daniel Thomas Watts, M.D., a nationally recognized pharmacologist and former dean of the MCV School of Basic Health Sciences, now part of the VCU School of Medicine. Dr. Watts died in 1994.

Brinthaupt remembers a story her dad shared about having holes in his shoes when he was a medical student on the MCV Campus. As the story goes, she said Dr. Watts asked her father if the shoes were the best pair he had, and Dr. Poole replied that they were his only pair. 

It was Dr. Watts who showed up the next day with a new pair of shoes for him, and the gesture was one that Dr. Poole referenced often when he reminisced about his years as a student.

“My dad had a lot of admiration for Dr. Watts because of his integrity and his hardworking nature,” Brinthaupt said. “My father came from humble means and, throughout his life, kind gestures such as this deeply touched him and inspired him to do the same for others.”

Dr. Poole, an MCV alum and longtime OB-GYN in West Virginia, passed away in 2021. Among his wishes was to contribute from his estate to a scholarship fund established in honor of his beloved mentor. The Daniel T. Watts Jr. Scholarship was established in the early 1980s to provide money for graduate students within the School of Basic Health Sciences, of which Dr. Watts served as dean from 1966 to 1982.

“Being in need and being helped by people at the university, that was very important and meaningful for him throughout his career trajectory as a physician,” said Tom Brinthaupt, Ginny’s husband. “It created in him a similar impulse to help others.” 

Brinthaupt said she and her brother, Dan Poole, are grateful that their late father’s desire to help others manifested into a legacy that will benefit generations to come. They hope it will make a difference by helping students attain their dreams and continuing a legacy of training talented researchers in the basic sciences, following in the footsteps of Dr. Watts. 

“My father was proud of himself for being a self-made man,” Ginny said. “As his career flourished, it was important to him to give back to others as much as he could.”

If you would like to support the Watts Scholarship Fund or give to student scholarships at the VCU School of Medicine, please contact Jodi Smith, director of development in the Office of Medical Philanthropy and Alumni Relations, at 804-628-2248 or jtsmith@vcu.edu.