Descendants of Johns Hopkins have given $2 million to
endow a professorship in the
School of Medicine at the university their ancestor
founded.
The Johns Hopkins Family Professorship in Oncology
Research was funded by 12 collateral descendants of the
Baltimore financier whose record bequest established both
The Johns Hopkins University and The Johns Hopkins Hospital
more than 125 years ago.
"This wonderful gift from the Hopkins family continues
a family legacy of philanthropy, a legacy established by
one of the great figures in the entire history of American
philanthropy," said William R.
Brody, president of the university. "We are most
grateful that Johns Hopkins' descendants have chosen to
honor their forebear, and to do it in a way that will
continue his work and extend his vision for a better
world."
The leadership donors are James E.T. Hopkins, a
great-great-nephew of the founder; Janie Elizabeth "Liza"
Bailey, a great-great-great-niece; and Bailey's husband,
Michael Musgrave. An additional 10 members of the family
contributed, including Judge John L. Clark, whose 1998
bequest initiated the professorship fund.
"This gift clearly affirms the Hopkins family's
generosity and loyalty but also demonstrates its keen
awareness of the central challenges facing medical research
and practice in the 21st century," said Edward D. Miller
Jr., dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins
Medicine. "This is the kind of support that means Johns
Hopkins Medicine will continue to lead the way in meeting
those challenges."
James E.T. Hopkins, a retired thoracic surgeon, is a
1941 alumnus of the School of Medicine who had graduated in
1937 from what is now the university's Krieger School of
Arts and Sciences. He is the author of the military history
Spearhead: The Complete History of Merrill's Marauder
Rangers. His niece, Liza Bailey, recently retired from
Credit Suisse First Boston.
Speaking on behalf of his relatives, James Hopkins
said, "We need people who can do medical research, and we
need to fund their work. This professorship is a way for
this generation of the Hopkins family to advance medical
science and do something meaningful for higher
education."
The Hopkins family's legendary relation, Johns
Hopkins, was an important investor in the nation's first
major railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio, and became a
director in 1847 and chairman of its finance committee in
1855. In 1867, Hopkins arranged for the incorporation of
The Johns Hopkins University and The Johns Hopkins
Hospital. He died on Christmas Eve 1873, directing that his
bequest be divided equally between the two institutions. It
was, at the time, the largest philanthropic bequest in U.S.
history.
The Hopkins family's gift will endow a professorship
in the Division of Hematology within the Department of
Medicine.
Myron L. Weisfeldt, the William Osler Professor of
Medicine and director of the
Department of Medicine, expressed his appreciation to
the current generation of Hopkins philanthropists.
"This gift will enable a world-class physician
researcher to further our work in the diagnosis and
treatment of blood and other types of cancers," Weisfeldt
said. "The medical world will continue to benefit from the
Hopkins family's philanthropy."
Appointment to an endowed professorship is one of the
highest honors a university can bestow on a member of its
faculty. The first Johns Hopkins Family Professor will be
named during the weekend of May 19, what would have been
Johns Hopkins' 210th birthday.
The Hopkins Family gift is part of the Johns
Hopkins: Knowledge for the World campaign. Commitments
to the campaign have reached $1.558 billion, more than
three-quarters of the $2 billion goal. Priorities of the
campaign, which benefits both The Johns Hopkins University
and The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, include
strengthening endowment for student aid and faculty
support; advancing research, academic and clinical
initiatives; and building and upgrading facilities on all
campuses. The campaign began in July 2000 and is scheduled
to end in 2007.
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