Stephanie A. Matuszak

Dr. Stephanie A. Matuszak ascended to the Kingdom of Heaven on June 21, 2021. She was the firstborn child of Wilbur J. (“Big Bud”) Artner and Evelyn M. (Levers) Artner. Big Bud was a Navy flight engineer in World War II. A graduate of what is now known as Case Western Reserve University, Big Bud rose to become the Vice President of Manufacturing at National Machinery in Tiffin, Ohio. Stephanie’s mom, Evy, earned a post-graduate degree in education from Columbia University. Stephanie graduated with honors from Tiffin Columbian High School. A National Merit Scholar, Stephanie attended Middlebury College in Vermont where she studied foreign languages. During her time there, she served as a host for the Czechoslovakian hockey team at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. She often spoke of how the Czechoslovakian hockey players loved watching Tom and Jerry cartoons, and how they stood and cheered – in the presence of their Soviet political officer – when the U.S.A hockey team beat the U.S.S.R. hockey team in the “Miracle on Ice.” After Middlebury College, Stephanie studied medicine in Munich, Germany for two years before returning to Ohio to attend medical school at the University of Cincinnati. She began her stateside medical career as a board-certified family physician, first serving at a family practice in Sylvania. After that, she served in the Emergency Department at Tiffin Mercy Hospital, taught at Heidelburg University, and most-recently served as the Medical Director for Occupational Health Services at St. Luke’s Hospital in Maumee. During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, she served night and day on the Health Incident Command team, where she was responsible for the health and welfare of every employee at St. Luke’s Hospital so they could take care of everyone else. She took extraordinary care of her co-workers and her patients, and she loved them all. During her patients’ struggles, her only concern was their wellbeing and happiness. Among those patients, however, Stephanie was particularly fond of – and fiercely protective of – her military veterans and first responders who had routinely put themselves in harms’ way for others. She touched the lives of many, but her patients also had a profound impact on her. One night, while caring for a couple as they struggled with their unborn child’s life, the mother-to-be gave Stephanie a golden-heart pendant from around her neck. That child didn’t survive. But Stephanie treasured that pendant as a symbol of why she served others in their times of need. Stephanie is survived by her husband Thomas A. Matuszak, her two sons Bennett G. Bishop and Mason T. Matuszak, her brother Steven Artner, and many nieces and nephews whom she adored. A Celebration of Life ceremony will be held at the Walker Funeral Home, 5155 West Sylvania Avenue, Toledo, Ohio, on Saturday, July 10, 2021. Friends and family will be welcomed beginning at 11:00 a.m., and the formal service will begin at 1:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers or charitable donations of any kind, Stephanie had asked that you simply tell your local healthcare providers, military veterans, and first responders “thank you.” * * * “They deserve that, and more.”