Pillows Establish Scholarship Fund at UT Southwestern

Dr. David Pillow, Sr. and Family

A Texas family of physicians with long-standing ties to medical education has established a student scholarship at UT Southwestern with gifts totaling $100,000.

A $50,000 gift from Dr. David J. Pillow and his wife Annabel and a matching contribution from their son, Dr. David Pillow Jr., will create the Pillow Family Medical Student Scholarship Fund at Southwestern Medical Foundation. The elder Dr. Pillow is a former UT Southwestern faculty member and a well-respected North Texas family practitioner. His son, an alumnus of UT Southwestern Medical School, is medical director of the emergency department of UT Southwestern-St. Paul.

"As we've gotten older, Annabel and I have begun to think more seriously about what we want to leave behind," said the elder Dr. Pillow. "Because of our own personal experience, we understand the great value of a first-rate medical education -as well as the substantial expense of one. We consider this gift an investment in fellow Texas doctors, and we're proud to be able to support UT Southwestern, for which we have a great affection."

His son added, "I've always been inspired by my father and saw this as an opportunity to join my parents in doing something meaningful and good."

The elder Dr. Pillow earned his medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine in 1953, where he was first in his class. He served on the faculty of UT Southwestern from 1972 to 1978 and on the faculty of UT Arlington from 1978 to 1994.

Until 1989 he maintained a private family practice in North Richland Hills, which named a new city park-Dr. Pillow Park-for him in 2007.

Annabel Pillow, who helped put her husband through medical school by working at the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., during World War II, is active in numerous civic activities. Since 1955 she has been a member of the Tarrant County Medical Society Alliance, for which she is past president. The Pillows, who have been married for 64 years, have five children, 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

The younger Dr. Pillow graduated with honors from UT Southwestern in 1972. He served on the faculty of Oklahoma Medical College from 1988 to 1989. He has directed the emergency department of UT Southwestern University Hospital since 1990 and is the owner of St. Paul ERDocs, P.A.