Create a Legacy With Your Support of Physical Therapy

Though they are now retired, Gary Soderberg, PT, PhD, FAPTA and his wife, Loretta Knutson, PT, PhD, PCS, remain committed to the physical therapy profession and are continuing their involvement with the research they pursued during their university careers.

In support of the Foundation's current Major Gifts Campaign, Gary and Loretta recently made a generous estate gift to the Foundation, to help fund research and scholarships. "We both have research degrees, we're both past presidents of Sections of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), and we have both been involved in fundraising for research," Gary says. "We want to continue that support."

Gary served as president of the APTA's Section on Research, while Loretta held the same position for the Section on Pediatrics. During Loretta's presidency, 1996-2000, she helped establish an endowed pediatric fund with the Foundation.

The couple's relationship with the Foundation dates back even further, however. In the 1980s, when Gary was head of the Physical Therapy Program at the University of Iowa, he was co-principal investigator on the first Clinical Research Center (CRC) grant awarded by the Foundation. More recently, Loretta has been a co-investigator on the Foundation's first Clinical Research Network (CRN), PTClinResNet, a multi-site grant.

In appreciation for the Foundation and the research it supports, Gary and Loretta have, over the years, taken part in a number of Foundation fundraising activities. They've contributed generously to the CRN, and now made their estate gift.

"The Foundation needs continuing and ongoing support and an estate gift is a good way to do it from our perspective," says Gary. The Foundation will gladly help you create your personal legacy for the physical therapy profession. For more information on how to make the Foundation a beneficiary of a retirement plan, insurance policy, annuities or appreciated stocks, call our office at (800) 875-1378, Ext. 3167.