Bob Smiddie Healthcare Justice Award
Presented each year to an activist (or group of activists) whose work carries forward Bob Smiddie's lifelong fight for health care as a human right.
Established in July 2011, the Bob Smiddie Healthcare Justice Award honors the life and memory of a founding voice in Ohio's single-payer movement. It is presented each April at the Healthcare for All Ohioans State Conference to an outstanding healthcare activist, or group of activists, whose work reflects Bob's enduring commitment to justice in health care.
Recipients are nominated by their peers and selected by the State Council. A recognition that comes not from within the organization's leadership alone, but from the activists who have worked alongside the honoree in the field.
Honor Roll of Recipients
Years 2025/2026 - Dee Chavez, Cincinnati, OH
Years 2023/2024 - Amber Prater, Dayton, OH
Years 2021/2022 - Bob Parker, Brecksville, OH
Year 2020 - Representative Michael J. Skindell, Lakewood, OH
Year 2019 - Bob Krasen, Columbus, OH
Year 2018 - Katherine Lambes, M.D., Dayton, OH
Year 2018 - Matthew Noordsij-Jones (NJ) M.D., Dayton, OH
Year 2017 - Alice Faryna, M.D., Columbus, OH
Year 2016 - George Randt, M.D., Bay Village, OH (Awarded posthumously)
Year 2016 - Brad Cotton, M.D., Circleville, OH
Year 2015 - Johnathon Ross, M.D., Toledo, OH
Year 2014 - Jerry & Bonnie Gordon, Cleveland, OH
Year 2013 - SPAN Cuyahoga West, April Stoltz accepting
Year 2013 - SPAN Cleveland, Bob Parker accepting
Year 2012 - Arlene Sheak, Athens, OH
Who was Bob Smiddie?
William Robert "Bob" Smiddie was loved and admired by everyone who knew him. A vibrant advocate for health care justice, he was known for his folk pottery adorned with flowers, for plays that paired imaginative humor with a strong sense of social justice, and for a political activism that never let up on behalf of those without a voice.
Because Bob believed health care is a human right, he became a leading voice in the Ohio Single-Payer Action Network for more than a decade. Whatever the odds against his convictions, he lived by one guiding principle: never give up.
Shortly before his death, the SPAN State Council presented Bob with the award that now carries his name. It reads: "In grateful recognition of your advocacy and leadership for health care justice."
