Award-Winning Medical Inventor Discovers the Simple Joy of Giving
By nicole lewis
Contributor
February 23, 2006 | Read Time: 11 minutes
A chance meeting 35 years ago at a local YMCA helped lead last year to one of the biggest pledges — $30-million —
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ever recorded at the University of Maryland at College Park.
Back in the early 1970s, a $50 tennis membership to the Silver Spring, Md., YMCA was about all that Robert E. Fischell, a physicist, and William E. (Brit) Kirwan, an assistant professor at the university, could afford. A close friendship formed over the net.
The two men still serve-and-volley together, but it is harder to coordinate their schedules for a game: Mr. Fischell is now a successful inventor of biomedical devices, with 200 patents to his credit, and Mr. Kirwan holds the post of chancellor of the University System of Maryland.
“We’ve traveled a long way together,”
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says Mr. Kirwan. “I went from admiring his forehand to developing a deep respect and admiration of his intellect and his values.”
Last year Mr. Kirwan and Nariman Farvardin, dean of the University of Maryland’s Clark School of Engineering, pitched to Mr. Fischell the idea of creating a new department of bioengineering and an institute of biomedical devices, areas that could help propel the university into the top tier of engineering schools in the country. Mr. Fischell, who received his master’s degree in physics from the university in 1953, not only decided to pay for it — he tapped his three sons to jointly contribute $1-million as well.
“To provide as a gift the ability for others to get trained to do what he does, that excites him,” says Timothy A. Fischell, Mr. Fischell’s middle son, who is the director of cardiovascular research at Borgess Medical Center, in Kalamazoo, Mich. “Fifty years from now there will be young, bright engineers studying at the Fischell bioengineering school and graduating and making contributions.”
The elder Mr. Fischell, 77, also credits his friendship with Mr. Kirwan, who kept him apprised of the university’s progress and programs long before he accrued any significant wealth from his inventions. He praises Mr. Kirwan and C.D. (Dan) Mote Jr., president of the College Park campus, saying they “have made Maryland a great university.” Mr. Fischell, who serves on several of the university’s boards, adds, “I love the people at Maryland, and I was a graduate and am a citizen of the state of Maryland.” Demonstrating his wish to be intimately involved in how his pledge is used, Mr. Fischell has already traveled to two other universities to scout ideas for the new department and plans to visit other institutions.
‘You Have Changed My Life’
After growing up in the Bronx, N.Y., the son of poor Russian immigrants who didn’t have the opportunity to attend college, Mr. Fischell graduated from Duke University with a degree in engineering before going on to the University of Maryland.
In 1951, while working for the Naval Ordinance Laboratory, in White Oak, Md., Mr. Fischell realized he had a knack for inventing. He was walking across a lawn when he tripped over a sprinkler. That same night he designed a lawn sprinkler that retracted into the ground when not in use.
“I have a peculiar gift to see a problem, and within literally 10 seconds, see the answer in my head,” says Mr. Fischell.
After a long stint at the Applied Physics Laboratory at the Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, where he designed space satellites, among other technology, Mr. Fischell left to work with his sons on new inventions and create companies to develop them.
While he could have concentrated on inventing everyday items such as the lawn sprinkler, Mr. Fischell preferred to set his sights on biomedical devices that affect a broad range of people. Among his inventions are a rechargeable heart pacemaker and an implantable insulin pump, for which he won the “Inventor of the Year” award from the Intellectual Property Owners Association, in Washington, in 1984. Along with his sons, he is now working on devices to detect heart attacks, reduce the severity of epileptic seizures, and eliminate migraine headaches.
“If they don’t change the lives of one million people, that is not the best thing to do this week,” he says. “When I’m done there are people who come to me and say, ‘My God, you have changed my life.’ That is incredible satisfaction.”
Among his many awards, Mr. Fischell was honored, along with the rock musician Bono and the photographer Edward Burtynsky, with the inaugural TED Prize last year. TED, which stands for technology, entertainment, and design, is a four-day annual conference that draws powerful and creative people together to share ideas. The Sapling Foundation, in Woodside, Calif., sponsors the conference and donates proceeds from the event to various charities, including environmental and public-health organizations.
“It wasn’t just to acknowledge them for the work they have done,” says Amy Novogratz, director of the TED Prize program, of last year’s winners. “We believe in where they are going and what they can do to change the world.” Mr. Fischell, who was selected from a pool of 100 nominations, was recognized for his ability to merge science and technology for the good of mankind. He split the $100,000 prize money between two of his companies that are developing his devices.
‘Humanity, Fun, and Profit’
The appeal of his ability to help people as well as make millions is not lost on Mr. Fischell and others. At the request of Mr. Farvardin, the engineering-school dean, Mr. Fischell gives a lecture twice a year to inspire freshmen at the school, titling his talk, “Engineering for Humanity, Fun, and Profit.”
His most lucrative invention, flexible stents, are small, lacelike cylindrical structures used to keep coronary arteries open so the heart muscle can receive oxygen and other nutrients, thereby helping prevent heart attacks. He has developed more than 40 patented models with his sons. In 1998, when the Cordis Corporation, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, merged with IsoStent, a company Mr. Fischell started with his two eldest sons, and acquired rights to some of the stent patents, Mr. Fischell had the means to either live a much more lavish lifestyle or give more money away.
He opted for the latter. “I would rather give money to the university than collect it in the bank,” says Mr. Fischell, who lives on seven acres in an airy house here in Maryland that he designed himself. “Where is the joy of counting something? The people who have $100-million and are striving for the next $100-million are beyond my understanding.” Besides, he adds, “I can never spend in my lifetime the money I have.”
However, the Fischell family, which includes eight grandchildren, does enjoy one trapping of upper-echelon wealth: The family members travel often by private jets to enable them to easily visit one another and to reach vacation spots. Mr. Fischell recently sent his sons a book, Wealth in Families, by Charles W. Collier, to encourage them to start talking about money with their children.
His sons and their wives, however, would prefer that he do the talking, says Mr. Fischell. “All the parents want Granddad to teach,” he says. “I teach them that money does not buy you happiness. What makes you happy as a human being is that you have accomplished something.”
‘He Copied Me’
In addition to the $30-million he gave to the University of Maryland last year, Mr. Fischell also donated $1-million to the Johns Hopkins University for cancer research last year. His wife, Marian, who died in May following a struggle with leukemia, was treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Also last year, his wife’s physician solicited him for new ideas for treating leukemia, and Mr. Fischell drummed up a hypothesis to use magnetic fields. He donated an additional $130,000 to the university to test his theory.
“I have no clue if it will work,” he says. But “I am not embarrassed to fail.”
His mega-pledge to Maryland had company last year. Two alumni, A. James Clark, chairman of Clark Enterprises, in Bethesda, Md., and Robert H. Smith, chairman of Charles E. Smith Commercial Realty, in Arlington, Va., each pledged $30-million as well. Mr. Clark’s pledge was designated for engineering scholarships, while Mr. Smith’s will aid the business school, a performing-arts center, and other parts of the university.
“Having three $30-million gifts given to the university over this relatively short period of time has moved College Park into the big leagues of fund raising,” says Mr. Kirwan. “It’s a significant statement of the belief that people of means have in the school.” The university is set to announce its largest campaign — with an expected goal of at least $800-million — this fall.
Mr. Fischell’s pledge to Maryland may be the family’s largest for a bioengineering program at a university, but it is not the first.
In 2004, David R. Fischell, a physicist and chief executive officer of Angel Medical Systems, a company in Tinton Falls, N.J., that is developing the device to detect heart attacks, donated $1-million to Cornell University, his alma mater, in Ithaca, N.Y., for its new Department of Biomedical Engineering. “Usually he says I do everything he did, later,” says David Fischell of his father. “This is one where he copied me.”
Even so, David, who is the eldest of the three, and his brothers readily contributed to the new bioengineering department at Maryland, which the elder Mr. Fischell named after the whole family instead of just himself.
“We want to be known as a family that gives back,” says Timothy Fischell. “My father’s engineering successes are, in my opinion, integrally related to the partnership he has with us, so it is appropriate we contribute.” And besides, adds Scott J.S. Fischell, a medical-devices consultant and Mr. Fischell’s youngest son, “It was less of a request than I was informed I was donating to the university.”
Collaborative Giving
The tight-knit Fischells — father and sons talk nearly every day — have had some experience with joint philanthropy. For the past 10 years, instead of the adults exchanging holiday gifts, each family has donated $1,000 apiece to a cause picked by the families on a rotating basis. Past recipients have included Habitat for Humanity, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and a local high school band. “We really don’t need anything, and other people do,” says Scott Fischell.
But the biggest collaborative project will come in the near future, when the family’s new foundation begins to give away money. Half of the organization’s grant making will involve biomedical-engineering projects, with the remainder to be determined by the elder Mr. Fischell, his sons, and possibly their wives.
Mr. Fischell won’t reveal how large the foundation might become, but “some of our businesses look so promising that additional gifts will be given in the near future,” he says.
The Fischell sons and their families’ philanthropy to date offer some clues to how foundation grants might be dispersed. In addition to David Fischell’s gift to Cornell, his family has contributed to food pantries and groups that help the homeless. Timothy Fischell recently donated $150,000 to the Borgess Foundation, which supports the Borgess Medical Center. The money will be used to build new emergency rooms and laboratories, several of which will be named after his mother.
Scott Fischell has donated to higher education, girls’ sports teams near his home in Glenelg, Md., and the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Robert Fischell has also contributed in the low five figures to the Heifetz International Music Institute, a summer music program in Ellicott City, Md.
However, the family has no plans to be active in running the foundation.
“More important than philanthropy is to create devices that, when you go to the doctor, he can say, ‘Well, five years ago, we couldn’t help you, but now we can save your spouse’s life,’” says the elder Mr. Fischell, his eyes welling up with tears. “I went to a doctor and he couldn’t.”
Such desires offer strong motivation to Mr. Fischell, who is at his desk at 6:30 a.m. He spends his weekdays — and most weekends — working from his cluttered home office, helping to run his companies, filing patent applications, contacting potential investors, and developing inventions. In addition, he has negotiated a raise from one of his companies, where he is the chief technology officer, so he can increase his charitable donations.
“I’ve always enjoyed making money,” he says. “And now I’ve learned that I enjoy giving it away.”
