Sewn in Memory: Ronald Steinhoff

Ron Steinhoff-Thorton was a student in the Medical Scholars (MD/PhD) program.  He came to Champaign-Urbana in 1990 and completed a PhD degree in Community Health.  He was participating in the medical school portion of the program at the time of his death in 1996.  Originally from West Germany, Ron returned to Germany towards the end in order to have better access to health care.   He was a child prodigy pianist. In this video, Niranjan Karnik, a friend of Ronald’s at the U of I, remembers him.

These videos commemorate men who died from AIDS in central Illinois in the 1980s and 1990s as told through stories from their friends and family.  They are produced by the University of Illinois Department of Journalism and Illinois Public Media as part of Sewn in Memory: AIDS Quilt Panels from Central Illinois, a community-curated exhibit created for the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures in 2021 in collaboration with the Greater Community AIDS Project of East Central Illinois (GCAP) and the Department of History at the University of Illinois.