Foundation receives $4.6 million estate

MB Foundation has received 100 percent of an estate valued at $4.6 million from Gunther Schmitt, a former physician and radiologist, who lived in San Bernardino, Calif., prior to his death a little more than a year ago.

It is the largest estate ever assigned to the institution, which is based in Hillsboro, according to MBF officials.

MBF credited Schmitt?s life of frugality for the large estate, which will be used to benefit several other ministries.

?It was our privilege to partner with Gunther for nearly 20 years as he practiced generosity,? said Jon C. Wiebe, MBF president. ?Gunther?s goal was to give away 50 percent of his income each year, maximizing his charitable deduction.

?I once asked him, ?Who taught you to be so generous?? His answer was, ?No one taught me to be generous. I was a recipient of generosity.??

Schmitt was born May 21, 1931, in Kudus, Java, Indonesia, the second child in a family of six children. His grandparents and parents were German missionaries to Java, serving under a Dutch mission agency in the Netherlands.

During the war in 1939, Schmitt?s father and grandfather were taken prisoner and later lost their lives at sea. The rest of the family escaped to a northern China Sing Tao German colony, and in 1947 joined relatives in Reedley, Calif.

While in China, relatives and several Mennonite church agencies supported them financially during those difficult years. Schmitt never forgot that life-saving generosity, Wiebe said.

Schmitt completed his doctorate at the University of California San Francisco and put himself through medical school. He worked as a pharmacologist, doctor of internal medicine and radiologist.

Schmitt died Aug. 2, 2010, at the age of 79.

Nearly 20 years ago he began working with MB Foundation through the encouragement of the late Clarence Hiebert, a longtime Tabor College professor from Hillsboro.

Endowments have been established at MBF to honor Schmitt?s legacy. These endowments will provide significant support for nine differ ministries?including education, mission and relief?for years to come.

Since Schmitt did not have any children, generosity became his legacy, according to Wiebe.

?We are honored to be uniquely positioned to give expression to his legacy,? Wiebe said.

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