Billionaire Citadel CEO makes $25M donation to Miami hospital. What’s it for?
Billionaire and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, who recently purchased the historic Adrienne Arsht estate for a record $106.9 million, has donated $25 million to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, one of the largest single donations in the hospital’s 72-year history.
The money will help fund a five-story surgical tower, now under construction and set to open in 2024. The tower, which will be named the Kenneth C. Griffin Surgical Tower, will house pre-and post-surgical care suites, and will utilize the latest tech to boost patient care, including robotics, augmented and virtual reality.
Griffin’s donation, the largest gift he’s given so far in Florida, will also help support the hospital’s four major institutes related to the brain, cancer and blood disorders, the heart and orthopedics.
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“This transformational gift will change the future of pediatric care for generations to come and ensure that doctors, nurses, and specialists have the latest technological advances at their fingertips to treat the children we serve,” said Matthew Love, president and CEO of Nicklaus Children’s Health System.
Love announced the donation Tuesday morning during a news conference, which was attended by Griffin, Jack and Barbara Nicklaus and community leaders, including Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Florida House Speaker Designate Daniel Perez.
“It truly warms our hearts when others share in our passion for helping children. Thanks to Ken’s generosity, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital will be able to provide necessary life-changing surgeries to children who need it. Giving a chance to a healthy life to a child is the greatest gift you can give a family,” said Jack Nicklaus, who along with his wife Barbara Nicklaus co-founded the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation.
Nicklaus Children’s caters to nearly half a million pediatric patients a year, with almost 70% of its families reliant on Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for low-income families. Love noted after the conference that the new tower will “transform pediatric surgery in South Florida,” and “elevate that bar across Florida and across the country for state-of-the-art surgery for kids.”
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Open heart surgery as newborn
The hospital already helps families like Rob and Jackie Farrow, whose son Kai underwent open heart surgery at Nicklaus in November, two weeks after he was born. His mom, Jackie, also had open heart surgery at Nicklaus when she was 13.
“We knew he was in good hands ... you could tell they were committed to making him better,” said Rob Farrow. Kai, who is now 3 months old, was released from the hospital a week after surgery and is doing well.
“Nicklaus Children’s Hospital is a world leader in healthcare,” said Griffin, who was born in Daytona Beach and attended middle and high school in Boca Raton. “We are so blessed to have such a talented team dedicated to providing the best care to every child. I am honored to support this mission.”
Griffin, whose Citadel financial empire announced in June plans to move its headquarters to Miami after 32 years in Chicago, is one of several high-profile CEOs to relocate their companies to the Magic City. The hedge-fund billionaire has also made other hefty donations in South Florida, including $5 million to Miami’s Underline and $5 million to help launch Miami Connect, which provides free high-speed internet to needy families.
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The CEO, who last year purchased the historic Arsht estate near the Vizcaya Museum in Coconut Grove, has looked into moving one of the homes on the estate, Villa Serena, elsewhere, riling local historians and preservationists. Villa Serena is the bayfront Mediterranean mansion built in 1913 for three-time presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, one of Miami’s and America’s most notable figures. The home is protected as a historic site under Miami’s preservation law.
READ MORE: Billionaire owner Ken Griffin wants to move Miami’s historic Villa Serena villa
Miami Herald staff writers Andres Viglucci and Rebecca San Juan contributed to this report.
