Rural Doctor Makes Bequest to Family Medicine

Dr. Robert I. Cutcher, the quintessential family physician, recently retired from the rural community of Deckerville for the second time. He first retired in 2000, but was asked to return when his replacement left unexpectedly. Dr. Cutcher never hesitated in his response and returned to the beautiful town in the "thumb" of Michigan that he loves. After 24 years of providing dedicated, personal care in the area, and 45 years of practice, it's no wonder that his patients and their families were happy to have him back. Now, he says, he has retired for good, and is confident that Dr. Kurt Jacobs will continue to carry on his tradition of quality care.

Dr. Cutcher, a Capac native, attended Albion College and then the University of Michigan Medical School. He remembers his days and teachers at Michigan fondly and still has season football tickets, as well as a brick outside the stadium. Those good memories and an abiding loyalty to the maize and blue have prompted Dr. Cutcher to give back to the University of Michigan via a bequest to the Department of Family Medicine.

"It has always been a source of pride to me that I was trained, both as a medical student and in graduate medical training, by the incomparable teaching staff at Michigan. It is the least I can do to repay the University for the wonderful and fulfilling life that I have been privileged to have had for these past 45 years," Dr. Cutcher said.

Many feel that Dr. Cutcher helped write the book on practicing rural medicine. Through his years as one of the two physicians in Deckerville, he hosted medical students that came every year for a month to learn rural clinical medicine from him. Dr. Cutcher feels that rural medicine is not that different from urban medicine, except for the deeper, richer familiarity with patients and their families - relationships that are rarely possible in practices in larger towns and cities.

And what will Dr. Cutcher do in his free time now that he has retired (again)? He plans to play a lot of golf, enjoy his new home in California, travel, read...and, of course, continue to cheer on the Wolverines to victory on the gridiron.