Denny Sanford Gives $300 Million to Build New Medical Center
With his latest donation, the philanthropist has now given Sanford Health nearly $2 billion over the years.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
December 1, 2025 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The South Dakota banker Denny Sanford gave $300 million to Sanford Health to establish and build the Sanford Black Hills Medical Center, which is scheduled to open in Rapid City, S.D., by 2030. Sanford is a prolific philanthropist who has appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors multiple times over the years.
He has given close to $2 billion to Sanford Health, including $400 million in 2007, when the Sioux Valley Hospitals and Health System was renamed for him, and $650 million in 2021 to launch a virtual-care hospital to serve patients who live in rural and underserved areas of the Midwest, to broaden Sanford Health’s graduate medical-residency program, and expand the health system’s sports complex.
The billionaire banker has been under scrutiny in since 2020, when state and federal authorities opened a series of investigations of his possible possession of child pornography on an electronic device. He was never charged with a crime.
Other recent big gifts Include:
University of Austin
Billionaire investor Jeffrey Yass pledged $100 million so the four-year-old university can remain tuition-free. The university was founded in 2021 by a group of investors as a private university that would not accept government funding. Yass co-founded Susquehanna International Group, an investment and technology firm. He has given $50 million of the pledge and plans to pay off the remaining $50 million over the next four years.
University of California at San Francisco
The late Edward Fein left $100 million to support the Memory and Aging Center, which will be renamed for Fein and his late wife, Pearl. Edward Fein was a stockbroker and financial analyst who retired in 1972. He split his time between homes in Arizona and Nevada.
Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management
Ann McIlrath Drake gave $70 million to support the construction of a new building which will be named the Ann McIlrath Drake Executive Center. Drake is a former chairman and CEO of DSC Logistics, a warehouse, trucking, and supply-chain logistics company, in Des Plaines, Ill. She earned an MBA from Kellogg in 1984.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly.
