$50 million new gift from philanthropist Tom Golisano to children’s hospital raises his giving past the $860 million mark

Oishei Children’s Hospital will soon be no more in Buffalo, or at least the name.

The institution is receiving a $50 million donation from businessman and former Buffalo Sabres owner Tom Golisano, and with it, a name change to the Golisano Children’s Hospital.

It’s the most significant financial gift in the hospital’s history, or any hospital within the Kaleida Health Network, which Kaleida CEO Don Boyd said will be essential to program investment and attracting top-level healthcare professionals.

“We have a phenomenal joint venture right now between Kaleida Health and Roswell Park for pediatric oncology,” he said. “So, there’s an opportunity for us to continue to grow together with Roswell and our program here to meet the needs of kids in Western New York, rather than having to travel.”

The name change means the Buffalo location will soon be the third “Golisano Children’s Hospital” in New York, as well as one in Southwest Florida.

The rebrand also enables collaboration and resource sharing with other locations, Golisano Foundation Executive Director Erica Dayton said.

“They’ve worked organically together. That’s going to be more formalized, right?” she said. “They’re going to have access;if one hospital doesn’t have neurosurgery and another does, they can connect. They’re going to work together on fundraising.”

Children’s Hospital President Dr. Stephen Turkovich credits Golisano Children’s Hospital in Rochester as the place where his professional career began, following his residency there.

Seeing how the Rochester hospital approached children’s health helped shape Turkovich’s perspective, he said.

“One of the things that set that program apart was their focus on advocacy and understanding the impacts of poverty on child health,” he said. “Then, working with different community-based organizations, legal entities, and governmental agencies to make sure that children have a voice.”

While the John R. Oishei Foundation won’t be the hospital’s primary partner, the group will remain involved, and new initiatives already are in the works, Foundation President Christina Orsi said.

“We’re shifting our investments more into the neighborhood and the families and support for them that also do seek care here, but more around that neighborhood development,” she said. “And it all has to work together to have a thriving community.”