Middlebury College Honors JDC's Dr. Rick Hodes

'Jewish Albert Schweitzer' given honorary degree by alma mater

Rick Hodes, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee's medical director for Ethiopia has been awarded an honorary degree by Middlebury College, his alma mater.

Dr. Hodes has been called the 'Jewish Albert Schweitzer' because of his tireless devotion to medicine in the developing world. For more than two decades he has practiced medicine in Africa and other impoverished countries, overseeing medical operations for humanitarian relief efforts in Sudan, Rwanda, Zaire, Turkey and Albania. But the thrust of his life's work has been treating disease and providing medical services for the Jewish population in Ethiopia, and he has been instrumental in bringing more than 40 children with rare skeletal deformities to the United States for corrective surgery.

"Rick Hodes represents JDC at its very finest," said JDC's executive vice president, Steven Schwager earlier this year after Dr. Hodes was inducted into the Medical Mission Hall of Fame. "He has sacrificed the material comforts and security that easily could have been his had he decided to practice medicine in the United States. Instead he has opted for the more adventurous path. JDC and the people he treats are much better off for his selfless dedication to 'tikkun olam'."

Above and beyond his work, Dr.Hodes has also adopted 5 Ethiopian orphans and taken more than 14 abandoned children into his home.

"Your relief work is not bound by organizational structures or defined by a job description," said Middlebury president Ronald Leibowitz while bestowing the honor upon Dr. Hodes. "You truly live your work in the most profound sense--exhibiting a selfless generosity that will be your legacy.

"You have provided chemotherapy on the porch of your Ethiopian home, you have volunteered at Mother Theresa's Mission for Sick and Dying Destitutes and you have advised the Children of Ethiopia Education Fund, which is now providing education for more than 500 impoverished girls in private schools. Your work has been recognized and honored worldwide."