Greehey Foundation Donates Record $25 Million To U.T. Health Science Center At San Antonio

Bill Greehey

Generous donors who support the teaching, research, patient care, and service missions of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio will never meet all the people they help, from the toddler with leukemia to the grandmother with diabetes. Even so, their unselfish giving brings the satisfaction of knowing they have transformed the Health Science Center, benefited humanity, and inspired others to follow their example.

Certainly no gift in Health Science Center history has been as transformative, as beneficial, or as inspiring as the $25 million donated in 2007 by Bill Greehey and The Greehey Family Foundation. It is the largest private gift ever received by the Health Science Center and one of the largest cash contributions in The University of Texas System and San Antonio�s history.

A tireless advocate for giving back to the community, Mr. Greehey stepped down as Valero Energy Corporation�s chairman in 2007 to focus attention on his many philanthropic endeavors and his role as chairman of NuStar Energy L.P. and NuStar GP Holdings, L.L.C. His family foundation�s gift provides $12 million to build state-of-the-art cancer research laboratories; $5 million for the recruitment and retention of world-class clinicians and scientists who can apply the latest discoveries in patient care; $4 million for scholarships for future clinicians and scientists focused on the health of children; and $4 million for community outreach programs that support pediatric patients and their families.

To recognize the gift�s importance, the Health Science Center changed the name of its North Campus to the Greehey Academic and Research Campus, and the name of the Children�s Cancer Research Institute to the Greehey Children�s Cancer Research Institute. �The U.T. Health Science Center is already recognized as one of the top health science centers in the U.S., and this gift will put the center on the path to becoming one of the very best research facilities in the world,� Mr. Greehey said.

Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., President of the Health Science Center, said the generous gift will strengthen San Antonio�s leadership in children�s health. �We are committed to making the Greehey Children�s Cancer Research Institute our nation�s premier children�s cancer research facility that will benefit the world,� he said.

The Greehey President�s Endowment for Excellence in Children�s Health Sciences is now the university�s largest private endowment. It will provide scholarships for deserving students and fellows in perpetuity with an emphasis on research of children�s cancer and complex illnesses affecting children. It also will create distinguished chairs to help the Health Science Center recruit and retain the best clinician-scientists in the world.

The Greehey gift also will benefit community initiatives targeted to more than 2.5 million medically indigent children in South Texas. These efforts will focus on cancer survivorship and palliative care, and will create a Family Support Fund for children with complex chronic conditions.

�This is not just a gift for the Health Science Center, this is a gift for South Texas,� said former Gov. Dolph Briscoe, a longstanding supporter of the Health Science Center. �I hope that other business, civic, and philanthropic leaders will follow Bill Greehey�s lead and help the Health Science Center with its mission to develop world-changing discoveries that will save lives.�