Financier Gordon Gund Pledges $50-Million to Vision Charity
June 23, 2014 | Read Time: 1 minute
Venture capitalist Gordon Gund, who lost his eyesight to retinitis pigmentosa 44 years ago, announced Saturday that his family will donate at least $50-million in matching gifts to the Foundation Fighting Blindness, reports The Baltimore Sun.
Mr. Gund, the CEO of Gund Investment Corp. and a co-owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, said he hopes the matching program will raise $100-million in six years for the Columbia, Md., charity, which he helped found a year after he went blind.
The foundation said Mr. Gund, his family, and his businesses have already given more than $130-million to the organization. It will use the new funds to expand support for clinical trials to find treatments for retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative condition that causes people to lose sight as light-sensitive cells in their eyes die.
