Alumni Association to posthumously honor '89 graduate

Author: Shannon Roddel

p. The University of Notre Dame Alumni Association will present the Distinguished Alumnus Award to the family of Dr. N. Donald Diebel Jr. during a ceremony Saturday (Nov. 1) at the Notre Dame-Florida State football game.p. The Distinguished Alumnus Award is presented on rare occasions in recognition of exemplary service to Notre Dame or community.p. A physician at the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Women in Orlando, Fla., Diebel, 35, was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer along the Florida Turnpike, where he had stopped to assist injured motorists at a rainy accident scene June 8, 2002.p. Diebel received his medical degree from the University of South Florida College of Medicine. A member of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the American Medical Association, Diebel and his father, Donald Sr., a 1964 Notre Dame graduate, practiced in the same Winter Park, Fla., obstetrics office.p. The Notre Dame Club of Greater Orlando has helped establish, in Diebel’s name, the Good Samaritan Fund, which has helped construct a Notre Dame-themed bedroom at the Ronald McDonald House in the Orlando Regional Medical Center. In addition, the Dr. N. Donald Diebel Jr. Memorial Scholarship has been established at Notre Dame through an endowment by fellow alumnus Greg Ramsby.p. Diebel is survived by his wife, Karen, also a 1989 Notre Dame graduate, and their three sons, Conor, Liam and Nicholas.p. A tribute to Diebel’s life is available on the Web at http://www.dondiebel.com/ .

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