For months and months, Noah and Alannah had been saving their pennies for a trip to Disney World. Eventually though, the 8-year-old and 5- year-old siblings decided to break into their piggy bank to help Saint Louis University students.

Noah and Alannah are the children of Dr. Norman Chernik, a 1965 graduate of SLU’s School of Medicine. The brother and sister recently took $300 they had put away for their vacation and donated it to a student loan fund established by their father 10 years ago.

“It is heartwarming to see such a wonderful example of giving by Noah and Alannah,” said Patricia L. Monteleone, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine.

The children’s gesture harkens back to another act of kindness 40 years ago when their father was a medical student. Struggling financially at the time, Chernik wrote his landlord a check for the rent, knowing full-well it would bounce. It was that, or face certain eviction. After signing the bogus note, Chernik went immediately to his bank to apologize. He also tried to take out a $1,000 loan to help him get by. Though bank officials appreciated his honesty, they told him they simply didn’t offer loans that small.

Bank president Robert Gaddy overheard the student’s tale and did the unexpected. He pulled out his own checkbook and wrote Chernik a personal check to help him cover the rent. No promissory note. No contract. No interest rates or late fees. In fact, Gaddy didn’t even expect to be paid back.

If it weren’t for Gaddy, Chernik said he may have faced eviction from his apartment. This could have snowballed and dramatically changed his life as well as the lives of his future patients. After all, Chernik had to hitchhike his way from his native Los Angeles to St. Louis, duffle bag in tow, just to attend medical school.

“I never would have been able to make it if it weren’t for the exceptional generosity of Mr. Gaddy,” Chernik said.

Of course, Chernik eventually did make it. He finished his medical education at SLU and became a successful neurologist and CEO, founding and directing a 14-member, four-office group neurology practice in Long Island, N.Y. And although he paid Gaddy back for his loan long ago, Chernik sought other ways to pay tribute to the man who helped him on his road to becoming a physician.

In 1997, Chernik established the Robert J. Gaddy Loan Fund for students at the School of Medicine. The fund provides loans with generous repayment terms to allow recipients to complete their medical and specialty training.

Gaddy remains quite humble about what he did — so much so, he didn’t want to be quoted for this story. Instead, to fully examine the legacy of his generosity, it might be best to turn to the letter Chernik’s son Noah handwrote when he and his sister sent their donation to SLU: “We saved change and put it in the piggy bank. When we emptied it, we had $300. My dad will be happy that this will help students who are training to become doctors. Because Mr. Gaddy helped my dad, he is a super great doctor. I would love to go to (SLU) when I am ready for medical school. My sister, Alannah, would like to come too.”

Scholarships at the School of Medicine help generations of young medical students realize their dream of becoming physicians. To learn more about establishing scholarships at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, call John Soucy, senior director of development, at 314-977-8303.