The Schappert-Nestor-Newman Endowment
Laura was born in New York City’s Bronx borough, the youngest of two children of Mildred (Horowitz) and Milton Newman; her grandparents had emigrated to the United States from Russia in the early 1900s.
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Laura attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in the Bronx, where she was active in many school societies. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of Illinois, Chicago, and was heavily involved in the early Feminist movement there. She volunteered with the Abortion Counseling Service of Women’s Liberation, better known by its nickname “Jane” which was the subject of a recent HBO documentary, as well as with the Chicago Maternity Center, which provided high quality home birth services to thousands of women, most of them nonwhite, poor, and with little or no access to prenatal care. She was also a member of WATCH (Women Act to Control Healthcare), a Chicago-based group working to improve institutional healthcare for women in the 1970s.
In 1978, Laura entered a newly-formed, innovative graduate program (then known as the Program for Urban, Social and Environmental Policy) at Tufts University, Medford, MA, where she studied health policy and sociology. After earning her Master’s Degree, she worked for New York Health and Hospitals where she handled budgetary matters. In the late 1980s she started a career as a medical writer and editor. She spent much of her life advocating for and educating others about public health issues.
Laura wrote for many publications, including the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, The Lancet, BMJ, and the Journal of Oncology Practice. In the 1990s, she was the managing editor of Medical Outcomes and Guidelines Alert, which was the first newsletter to critically discuss clinical trials, patient outcomes research, and the science behind standards of care. She was especially interested in optimizing patient health outcomes, patient preferences, and educating audiences on advances in bioscience and medicine. She also created and maintained a blog for several years, Patient POV, which emphasized the experience of patients in the medical system. She was active on social media and with several professional associations in the field of medical writing; here is a short clip of Laura speaking on behalf of the Editorial Freelancers Association.
During the COVID-19 pandemic Laura returned to New York Health and Hospitals to supervise a team that traced and tracked the disease’s spread through New York City.
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In the last decade, Laura became involved in the Detention Visitation Project in Elizabeth, NJ, founded by immigration advocate Ilana Wallach. Laura continued to make regular trips from her home in New York City to a detention center in Elizabeth, NJ, for several years, where she was able to meet and develop close relationships with African asylum seekers awaiting their hearings.
Laura’s efforts did not stop with visitation. Once asylees were released from detention, Laura worked to help them establish themselves in the community, through financial support, emotional support, and advocacy on their behalf. She enlisted friends to provide additional financial support and worked hard to help people find jobs, educational programs, and housing. She continued to stay in touch with those she had helped even after they became established and left the New York area. She was always looking for ways to help others in any way she could.
Laura was a life-long and passionate champion of the rights of oppressed and marginalized people. But she also loved nature, including Cape Cod, where she spent many happy times with her friends, hiking nature trails, going on bird walks, and enjoying all the beauty the Cape has to offer.
In 2023, Laura passed away suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving a legacy of advocacy and compassion. The Schappert-Nestor Endowment has been expanded in 2024 with a substantial gift to become the Schappert-Nestor-Newman Endowment, as a tribute to her memory. It is hoped that this fund, which seeks to expand educational opportunities for historically underserved people in the fields of environmental science and advocacy will be a fitting memorial for Laura and one that she would have approved of.
