News

Lakeland grad donates $1 million to science programs

Oct. 13, 2026

The late Ronald Scheele, a 1966 Lakeland University graduate who had an accomplished career as an educator and scientist in the field of medical physics, always traced the roots to his success back to the support he received at Lakeland.

Scheele, who died on Oct. 1, 2024, at the age of 80, was grateful for the scholarships that allowed him to attend Lakeland. He directed his executors to pay it forward, enabling generations of future Lakeland students to follow in his footsteps.

Lakeland has received a $1 million gift from Scheele’s estate to provide for scholarships and create new programs for future LU science students.

Half the gift will establish the Ronald Scheele Memorial Scholarship, which will be awarded to students pursuing a degree in the basic sciences who demonstrate financial need and maintain the required grade point average. The scholarship will be renewable annually, much like the award that Scheele received.

The remaining $500,000 will create a science and healthcare innovation program growth fund. This allocation will provide support for science and healthcare innovation and program development including capital projects, program development, equipment and related institutional priorities within these fields.

Scheele family members, including his two children, were on Lakeland’s campus on October 13 to visit their father’s alma mater and meet with Lakeland faculty and staff to present the check and discuss the scope of the gift’s impact.

“This is a transformational gift that will expand access to life-changing programs available in the sciences at Lakeland,” said Lakeland University President Beth Borgen. “It is a fitting tribute to Ron and his legacy as an educator, researcher and scientist. He is creating pathways for a new generation of Lakeland students to create their own legacies in the sciences and healthcare field.

“Our science programs have a strong tradition of excellence. Beyond our day-to-day classes, numerous Lakeland students have excelled in our undergraduate research program and learned in special programs like the Belize trip. Our science program graduates have attended some of the nation’s top graduate programs and enjoyed significant post-graduation professional success. This gift will help us expand our offerings to more students and build on that excellence.”

A Sheboygan, Wis., native, Scheele demonstrated his love of math and science at an early age, serving as the secretary of the Science Club and winning first place in the science fair at Sheboygan South High School, to placing as a top quarter finalist in the state mathematics competition.

After graduating from Lakeland in 1966, he attended North Dakota State University in Fargo, N.D., where he met his first wife Constance ("Connie") Wiesner and received his master's degree in 1969 in radiation health physics. The couple moved to Charlottesville, Va., in 1969 where Scheele served initially as an instructor of radiology (physics) and then as an assistant professor of radiology for the University of Virginia's School of Medicine Radiology Department.

In 1975, the Scheele family relocated to Green Bay, Wis., to be closer to family and to work for the radiation department at St. Vincent Hospital overseeing initial operation of their first linear accelerator. During his 11 years in Green Bay, he served in various roles as a radiation physicist at St. Vincent Hospital, ultimately managing the overall Division of Radiology Therapy.

In addition to his roles at St. Vincent, Scheele earned his master's degree in health services administration from the College of St. Francis in Joliet, Ill. He also taught night classes and consulted for numerous hospitals across the state of Wisconsin and upper peninsula of Michigan.

In 1986, the Scheele family moved to Houston, Texas, where he worked within the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, serving various key roles and impacting numerous lives with his physics expertise until the time of his death. In 1999, Scheele married his second wife, the late Julie Murray, and the two shared 16 years of marriage before her death in 2015.

Throughout the course of his life, Scheele displayed a steadfast commitment to science and his trade as a nuclear physicist. He published numerous scientific articles and was the co-author of the book "Elements of Radiation Protection" that is still used as a college textbook. He was instrumental in the establishment of the professional license issued by the state of Texas for medical physics.

A complete obituary is available at this link.

Scheele’s passion for education led him to establish the scholarship in his name and he requested that any memorials be in the form of donations to the scholarship, which will support future scientists in enhancing their Lakeland education to change lives and improve medical care for our future generations.

Classmates, friends and others are invited to donate and contribute online by visiting Lakeland.edu/give. If donating online, select "Endowed/Specific Scholarship" and include in the scholarship name in the comments box (The Ronald Scheele Memorial Scholarship for Science). If donating via check, please include the scholarship name in the memo on the check.