The Herb Dankmeyer Scholars Program is named in memory of Charles Herbert "Herb" Dankmeyer. It is made possible through the generosity of his son, Charles H. Dankmeyer, Jr., who has continued his father's legacy both personally and professionally. The Herb Dankmeyer Scholars Program provides full tuition support for up to two DSc in Rehabilitation Science students each year whose scholarly work has strong potential to advance limb loss care through education, leadership or clinical research.
Dankmeyer, Inc was founded in 1954 by Herb, based on the principle of being sensitive to the needs of the community and providing services to meet those needs. Herb Dankmeyer was a Baltimore native who was himself a bilateral below the knee amputee. At age 10, while roller skating to a movie matinee that cost just five cents, he lost his balance and fell under a Baltimore Transit streetcar, an accident that immediately resulted in bilateral transtibial amputations.
Herb refused to succumb to the prevailing attitude of the early twentieth century which held that the disabled were unlikely to become self-supporting, functional members of society. He was a very active child, playing in sports, driving and eventually was hired by a company to train to be a prosthetist. He worked hard, and became manager of the company's Baltimore office, building it over the course of two decades into the company's highest-performing branch. As the story goes, when that company denied Herb a raise, he left to start his own prosthetics company, Dankmeyer, Inc.
His son Charles eventually took over the company. After retiring in 2013, Charles has continued to maintain an active role in the education of prosthetics and orthotics practitioners as well as advocate for all the members of the communities they serve. Establishing this scholarship is part of Charles’ continued work. Our Dankmeyer team is proud to serve those same communities and continue the legacy of our founder.
You can read more about the details of the scholarship and Herb Dankmeyer on the Johns Hopkins Medicine website by clicking here.