Firefighter leaves $820,000 to Belleville hospital

BELLEVILLE, Ill. -- A lifelong bachelor who spent 35 years with this St. Louis suburb's fire department has given back in a big way to the local hospital were he spent time as a patient the last 16 years of his life.

St. Elizabeth's Hospital says Earl Ritzheimer, who died in June at the age of 80, has left it his estate worth roughly $820,000 -- the second-biggest donation in the hospital's 132-year-history. The hospital got a $990,000 donation in 1995. Tim Brady, the hospital's chief executive, says the hospital is "absolutely overwhelmed" by Ritzheimer's generosity.

Ritzheimer's will made no mention of a specific incident that encouraged him to make the donation to the hospital. He was a cardiac patient who made frequent visits there from 1990 until his death, Brady said.

"He really connected with these people who took care of him," said Nancy Larson, an attorney for Ritzheimer's estate. "He valued the attention he got when he came to St. Elizabeth's."

After retiring from the fire department in 1984, Ritzheimer worked at a downtown clothier and ran an upholstery business behind his house.

His donation pushes to $2.4 million the amount the hospital has raised as part of its $3 million effort to pay for a system that lets doctors access radiology and imaging results anywhere they can log on to a computer.