A $15-Million Pledge Benefits a Texas Hospital’s Outpatients
By Caroline Bermudez
Contributor
May 29, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
How much: $15-million pledge
Who gave it: Lester and Sue Smith, through their foundation. Mr. Smith is head of Smith Interests, a Houston company that owns gas, minerals, oil, and timber businesses.
Who got it: Harris County Hospital District Foundation, in Houston, the fund-raising arm for the public hospital.
Purpose: An ambulatory-care center for outpatients that will be named after the couple.
Why the donor gave: Mr. Smith, a cancer survivor, says that his Jewish faith guides his giving. The sluggishness of the economic recovery also prompted his donation. “These are hard economic times,” he says. “There are people who had health coverage and lost it, and now they don’t have anything.” With his gift, he says, more poor people “can go and still get great medical care. Now, that’s a neat deal.”
For details about other new gifts, including $20-million to the South Dakota Community Foundation, go to http://philanthropy.com/topdonors. Send gift news to gifts@philanthropy.com.
