Keeping Carle at the Heart of Innovation

For Raymond Suchor, his calling was clear by the time he was five. While other kids were enjoying typical summer escapes, the future doctor viewed his family's Wisconsin vacations as an opportunity to autopsy the local fish. "I became quite proficient at it and decided surgery was my calling."

A few years later, he followed his passion to the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University, where a cadaver with a double prosthetic mitral and aortic valve piqued his interest in the heart. He decided he would either be a cardiologist, a surgeon, or both.

"The process was one of pure serendipity," says Dr. Suchor. He was on a flight to Houston with a friend who had worked at the Rantoul Airforce Base when the two passed over Champaign. "He pointed outside the window of the plane and asked if I had sent any CVs down there."

The year was 1976, and it was the start of a long and happy career at Carle. Over the next 30 years, he would hone his skills, meet his wife Nancy—a skilled nurse who worked in many different areas of the clinic, and watch Carle evolve into a regional leader in cardiology.

While they both retired from Carle in 2006, the Suchors will continue to be a part of Carle, thanks to their gift to Carle Health Center for Philanthropy. "The future isn't promised to anyone," says Dr. Suchor, whose gift will ensure Carle provides transformative cardiac care for generations to come.