Dr. Ruth G. Matarazzo

Dr. Ruth G. Matarazzo, a long-time Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU) professor of Medical Psychology, died of natural causes on November 13, 2020, at age 94. Ruth Wood Gadbois was born on November 9, 1926 in New London, Connecticut, to John Stuart Gadbois and Elizabeth Wood Gadbois. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to Niantic, Connecticut, a small, neighboring, seaside village. Ruth graduated from Niantic public grammar school, matriculating to New London High School. Her senior year she transferred to Dean Academy in Franklin, Massachusetts, a boarding school, in order to better prepare for college. While there, she was first introduced to "Psychology", a subject that would define her working life.

Following graduation, she followed her older sister Dorothy to Pembroke College in Providence, Rhode Island, the women's college within Brown University. Ruth's interest in Brown was not coincidental. It had one of the premier Psychology Departments in the United States, including an excellent teaching program. After graduating with honors in Psychology in 1948, she remained for one term at Brown's graduate school as a teaching assistant. It was during that time that she met Joseph D. Matarazzo, also a Psychology graduate student, who had just returned from the Navy. They married in 1949.

After being advised by several professors that it would be harmful to their possible marriage if they both became psychologists, Ruth applied for, and was accepted into, a one-year business program for women at Harvard University's associated women's college, Radcliffe. Harvard Business School admission was not available to women during that era. Upon graduation, and marriage to Joe shortly thereafter, she accepted a position in the personnel department of Marshall Field’s department store, while Joe was starting his PhD program at Northwestern University. While there, she discovered that men were earning more than twice the wage of women doing the same work. This discovery would stimulate her lifelong commitment to pursuing pay equity for women.

In 1950, she and Joe moved to St. Louis for Joe’s continuing coursework, internship and residency at Washington University School of Medicine. Ruth began her doctoral studies and received her PhD from Washington University in 1955. She was the only woman in her graduating class, and during her clinical training, was the first woman admitted into the Veterans' Administration's Hospital internship program. In 1955 she and Joe accepted positions at Harvard Medical School’s Massachusetts General Hospital. While there, she performed clinical work and collaborated on research on the fundamentals of interviewing patients, an interest that continued throughout her career and brought her national recognition as a teacher and clinician.

In 1957, she and Joe were recruited by OHSU, becoming the two founding faculty members of the Department of Medical Psychology, the first medical school to have such a program. Ruth became only the second full time female faculty member at OHSU. This began her forty-five-year career teaching and supervising medical students, as well as residents and fellows, in both psychology and medicine.

During her tenure, Dr. Matarazzo remained a distinguished researcher, author, and clinician. Neuropsychology became her specialty and she was a sought-after expert witness. She was also an avid promoter of women within both OHSU and the community, including opportunity and wage equality, as well as the right to work during, and following, pregnancy.

Dr. Matarazzo was OHSU's first Woman Liaison Officer to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), and established an OHSU Committee of Women Faculty, which helped to bring female faculty into leadership positions. Election to several American Psychological Association leadership boards and committees followed, where she engaged in leadership roles in psychology education and training, including the accreditation of training programs in clinical psychology. OHSU conferred Professor Emerita status in 1997. In 2007, she received the Presidential Award of the American Psychological Association for lifetime professional contributions and public service.

Ruth also served on a variety of local and national boards outside her profession. She particularly loved classical music and opera, and served as a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Portland Opera Association in 1962, and with her husband Joe, contributed to its growth over the next 50 years. Events to raise money and awareness for the Portland Opera and Portland Chamber Orchestra were often held at her home.

Ruth loved her family and was devoted to her husband, children, grandchildren and extended family. She is survived by her husband Joseph, son Harris Matarazzo and his wife Judith, and daughters Elizabeth Holman and Sara Matarazzo, in addition to five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She was pre-deceased by her sister, Dorothy Gadbois Nordlie, in 1970.

Due to the current pandemic, a memorial service will be held at a later time. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that those seeking to honor Dr. Matarazzo through a contribution, do so by gift to the OHSU Foundation for the "Ruth G. Matarazzo Professorship in Behavioral Neuroscience", established during her lifetime. The Foundation can be reached by mail: 1121 SW Salmon, Suite 100 Portland, OR 97205; by phone: 503-228-1730; or on its website: ohsu.edu/foundation/ways-give