Nick Reuter ’66 was the first child born into a large Minnesota farm family. He was also born with a cleft palate, which impaired his speech and nearly derailed his destiny.
All eight of the Reuter children were gifted intellectually, and Nick graduated at the top of his class from Mazeppa High School in 1961 with a dream of attending college. His father, however, had different plans for Nick that involved sowing rather than studying and grain silos rather than the ivory towers of academia. An obedient son, Nick threw himself into helping run the family farm for as long as he could. But after more than a year in the fields, he knew in his heart that this was not the right life path for him.
Much to his dad’s dismay, Nick reached out in late 1962 to Fr. Don (then Lanfranc) LeMay for entry into Saint John’s University. Clearly college material, LeMay granted Reuter admission for the following fall, but Nick strongly urged Fr. Don to admit him immediately. So in January 1963, Nick began his studies in Collegeville.
Given his family’s limited finances, a resourceful Nick applied for support from the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR). The good news: he was granted funding to fully support tuition and room and board. The bad news: given his disability and speech impediment, the generous funding carried the stipulation that Nick avoid majoring in any field that would require him to have significant contact with the public.
Within the first few semesters at Saint John’s, it became clear to Nick that he both enjoyed and excelled in his science classes. This success fueled his plans either to become a county agent or land a position with a large agricultural company like Monsanto or Cargill. In an effort to ensure a well-rounded education, Nick enrolled in a sociology course taught by Fr. Paul Marx. Nick enjoyed the course but assumed he was falling short of expectations when Fr. Paul asked to meet with him after class. Instead of a reprimand, Fr. Paul asked Nick a life-changing question: had he ever given any thought to becoming a physician? Nick admitted that he had but -- with the DVR restriction looming in the back of his mind -- believed his disability would prevent him from pursuing a career in the medical profession. Fr. Paul spent the next several weeks chipping away at this obstacle and was ultimately successful in encouraging Nick to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).
Nick claims he never received the results of the testing, but he assumes the scores must have been “decent." He was admitted into the medical programs at both the University of Minnesota and the University of Indiana, and ultimately he chose to pursue his studies in his home state. Following an internship in Duluth, a tour of duty in the Airforce and a three-year residency in the Twin Cities, Nick and his wife, Bernice (a 1967 CSB alumna), relocated to St. Cloud in 1977. After nearly 40 years, Nick continues to serve as a highly-respected hematologist/oncologist.
Nick feels he owes a great deal of his success to the support and encouragement he received from members of the Saint John’s monastic community. In an effort to express his deep gratitude, he and his wife established the Nicholas and Bernice Reuter Professorship of Science and Religion. When asked why it was important to have such a professorship and lecture series at Saint John’s, Nick shared, “Science and religion are not in conflict. Each time there is a new discovery made, I believe that science is revealing the complexity of God’s creation. Bernice and I hope our gift will serve as a catalyst for these conversations for generations to come.”
Dr. Noreen Herzfeld has held the Reuter Professorship since it was established in 2010. “In endowing this professorship,” stated Herzfeld, “Nick and Bernice have ensured a continuing interdisciplinary dialogue at SJU/CSB between science and religion, two fields that dominate discourse in this twenty-first century. The Reuter Professorship has made it possible for me to play a major role in a brand new field -- the interaction between technology and religion -- and to bring my work to both a national and international audience.”