Giving: Vince and Marilyn Radke

Unexpected Paths

By Michele Dula Baum and Clare Collins

In the mid-1970s, Vince and Marilyn Radke (MPH, HPM ’77) found their paths and each other at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, where they were both pursuing Master of Public Health degrees. That experience shaped their lives and led to work across local, national and global public health.

Nearly five decades later, they still defer to one another when telling their story, each quick to hand off a question or fill in a detail the other leaves out.

Both came from working-class backgrounds and saw education as a way forward. For Marilyn, who grew up in West Virginia, medical school hadn’t been part of the plan.

“You didn’t go to a doctor unless you were half dead,” she recalls. It wasn’t until a classmate at Pitt encouraged her to consider it that she began to see a different path. Vince saw the MPH as a way to build on his early experience in the Peace Corps. For both, it opened doors. Marilyn went on to earn an MD at West Virginia University in 1987, and the two continued to build on their public health training.

Their careers took them into a wide range of roles, from smallpox eradication efforts to environmental health work. In Kenya, they traveled to remote communities by Land Rover, offering basic care and transporting patients to the nearest clinic when needed. In West Virginia, Vince worked with families on failing septic systems and unsafe water supplies, sometimes helping secure grants to install systems where none existed.

Vince and Marilyn Radke

"Public Health needs help. We've spent our lives in it, and we want to support the people who will carry that work forward."

Marilyn Radke

They also responded to outbreaks closer to home. During a measles outbreak in the early 1990s, Marilyn helped lead vaccination efforts, including drive-through clinics and school-based immunization campaigns to contain the spread.

In those settings, the work was often less about big solutions and more about figuring out what would work in the moment. “You’re trying to keep people safe, but also keep them going,” Vince says. “Keep their homes livable, keep their businesses open.”

Solutions weren’t always straightforward. Resources were limited, and trust had to be earned. It’s a mindset they hope to pass on. Now retired, they are focused on supporting the next generation of public health students.

With a $250,000 gift to the school, the Radkes have established a scholarship to support graduate students across any public health discipline. The award will provide $10,000 annually, with intentionally broad criteria.

“As long as the recipient is a graduate student in public health, we’re happy,” Marilyn says. “We didn’t want to limit who could benefit.”
Their decision reflects both gratitude and practicality. The Radkes credit their Pitt education with shaping their lives and opening opportunities. At the same time, they see a continued need for trained public health professionals.

“Public health needs help,” Marilyn says. “We’ve spent our lives in it, and we want to support the people who will carry that work forward.”

For the Radkes, the work has always been about people and communities, and making sure others have the opportunity to do the same. “I’ve been a jack-of-all-trades and a master of public health,” Marilyn says with a laugh.

Their gift supports students whose paths may take them in unexpected directions—just as theirs did.

This story was originally featured in the Spring 2026 issue of Pitt Public Health Magazine.