Hamilton philanthropists Charles and Margaret Juravinski will create an endowment of more than $100 million to support researchers across Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster University and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.
“It brings us great pleasure to think that when we are gone, our legacy to this community may be measured in the good health of those who come after us,” the Juravinskis said in a letter to the community released today. “As a couple, our most important lesson has been this: the greatest pleasure in life and the most powerful force for good in the world is sharing.”
The endowment will create the Juravinski Research Centre, which will equally support Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster University and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton by funding health research in a variety of areas including cancer, mental health, lung and respiratory care, and diseases of aging.
“The health of generations of Canadians will be positively impacted by this wonderful legacy gift from Charles and Margaret Juravinski,” said Rob MacIsaac, President & CEO, Hamilton Health Sciences. “In making this gift, they also helped inspire and enable our three organizations to collaboratively address some of the most important health issues of our time.”
The Juravinskis, who have called Hamilton home for decades, have given more than $50 million to Hamilton organizations, which includes support for the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre at Hamilton Health Sciences, the Margaret & Charles Juravinski Education, Research & Development Centre at McMaster University and the Margaret & Charles Juravinski Centre for Integrated Healthcare and the Juravinski Innovation Tower at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.
“McMaster had already started talks with Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph’s about how we could create new dimensions to our research partnerships to deliver even more to our community when I received a call from Charlie Juravinski. He was very excited to explore how he and Margaret could leave a legacy that would improve the health of people in Hamilton and around the world by supporting research,” said Dr. Paul O’Byrne, Dean and Vice-President, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University. “We will be eternally grateful for Charlie and Margaret’s vision and their confidence in our world-class researchers’ ability to have a deep and long-lasting impact in many critically important areas of health research.”
St. Joseph’s Health System President & CEO, Dr. Thomas Stewart, said that Charles and Margaret Juravinski forever changed health care in Hamilton.
“Their legacy of giving will continue thanks to their investment in world-class research,” added Dr. Stewart. “By enabling collaborative research into mental health care, lung and respiratory health, oncology, and diseases of aging, the Juravinskis’ gift will impact not only patients and families in Hamilton but countless others around the world for generations to come.”
The Juravinskis estate gift will provide up to $5 million a year to the institutions, in perpetuity.