Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia hooks $50M for transformation

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has scored a $50 million donation from Raymond G. Perelman, a 96-year-old patriarch of manufacturing, mining and finance.

The gift — the second $50 million grant in two years —  will fund a wide range of pediatric research for childhood illnesses. The hospital is also going to build an eight-care complex in Perelman’s name in Philadelphia.

“The impact of Mr. Perelman’s gift will be felt long into the future, helping generations of children live healthier lives,” said hospital CEO Steven Altschuler, MD.

This is Perelman’s second major act of medical philanthropy since he turned 90. In 2011, he awarded $225 million to University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, now the Perelman School of Medicine, in the university’s largest donation ever.

Perelman started his career in the paper industry, and in 1960 purchased what at the time was the largest steelmaker in the Northeast in Chester, Pennsylvania. He spent the rest of the twentieth century running an industrial conglomerate under the Belmont Holdings Corp., specializing in the acquisition, turnaround and sale of distressed companies.

Still CEO spot of RGP Holdings, Perelman has a net worth estimated just under $1 billion.

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For Perelman, donating some of that fortune to the 160-year-old Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is a way to preserve a traditional resource for the region and help it grow its work in advanced treatments, such as T cell therapy for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia and research into links between gut microbiota and infant allergies.

“This gift will help to ensure that critically important pediatric research, conducted on this campus, remains second to none,” said Perelman in a statement. “In addition to making a tangible difference in the lives of children around the globe for many years to come, it is my hope and expectation that advances in medical research funded by this gift will benefit us all.”

Part of the donation will establish a Raymond G. Perelman Research Fund that will support a center for cellular and molecular therapeutics for the emerging area of immune system re-engineering the in treatment of cancer and metabolic disease.

The fund also will support two new tenure-track scholars at the hospital, an innovation fund for pilot projects and endowed position for pediatric ophthalmology.

The hospital also plans to build a new advanced pediatrics facility using another $50 million donation from another local corporate giant — Alan Buerger, the co-founder and long-time CEO of insurance company Coventry, which Aetna acquired in 2012 for $5.6 billion.

With $50 million from the Buerger family, the hospital has raised another $44 million to meet a $100 million goal for the Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care, an acute care and speciality facility slated to open this summer.

Twitter: @AnthonyBrino