Comers donate $42 million to U of C hospitals
Lands' End founder, wife supporting children's center, pediatric care
The University of Chicago announced Wednesday morning that it has received its largest single donation, $42 million for the children's hospital, from Lands' End catalog founder Gary C. Comer and his wife Frances.
Longtime donors to the university and the South Side overall, the Comers already had donated $21 million in 2001 to build the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, which opened in February 2005. In 2003, they also donated $20 million to construct a pediatric emergency room for the new hospital.
The latest donation will be used to construct the Comer Center for Children and Specialty Care, to recruit physicians and scientists and develop pediatric specialties in areas such as oncology and advanced surgery.
Construction of the new center — a four-story, 122,500-square-foot building connected to the children's hospital — will cost $100 million. It will increase the children's hospital space by 50%, to 365,000 square feet.
“My wife Francie and I have been determined to find the most effective ways to give back to my old neighborhood,” said Mr. Comer, a native of Chicago's South Side, in a statement. “We have chosen to do that by focusing on fundamental needs such as children's health and education. What could be more important than that?”
Construction of the new center started last March. The new building will increase space for pediatric emergency, ambulatory care, operating, inpatient and family and visiting rooms.
“The Comers' remarkably generous gift, which follows a series of equally remarkable gifts, guarantees that the University of Chicago will remain at the forefront of children's medicine, providing the best possible setting for superb patient care, research and training,” said Michael Riordan, president and CEO of the University of Chicago Hospitals. “It also means that Comer Children's Hospital, and the doctors and staff working here, will play a growing role in improving health care for all children.”
Mr. Comer, who sold Lands' End to Sears Roebuck & Co. in 2002, also has donated millions for other South Side projects such as $30 million to create a Gary Comer Youth Center next to his alma mater Paul Revere School.
