Now Reading
$70 million new gift to University of Iowa from Jacobson Family Foundation
Dark Light

$70 million new gift to University of Iowa from Jacobson Family Foundation

The largest-ever donation to the University of Iowa, announced recently, will direct $70 million toward the creation of a new patient care tower in Iowa City.

The total cost of that building — part of a larger set of projects in the works at the university hospital system — is still unknown. But the donation from the Richard O. Jacobson Foundation is expressly to be used to build the new tower across from Kinnick Stadium.

Jacobson grew up in Belmond, Iowa, and studied business at UI. The foundation that bears his name has donated more than $86 million to the university.

Previous donations have supported the hospital’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UI children’s hospital and the UI Stead Family Department of Pediatrics. Other gifts have gone toward the Iowa Reading Research Center, the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center and Hawkeye athletics.

The University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics is underway with planning expansions and renovations on the main Iowa City campus.

Along with the new hospital, the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics has plans to create a new teaching and research building, and an ambulatory care center on the main campus. The hospital system also plans to modernize out-of-date spaces.

“We are proud to serve Iowa with our state’s only comprehensive academic medical center, providing life-saving and life-changing care to people from across the state and beyond,” said UI President Barbara Wilson.

“Richard Jacobson’s commitment to the UI was extraordinary, and this latest and very generous gift on his behalf will allow our exceptional health care team to deliver the highest level of care to all Iowans.”

Featuring single inpatient rooms, state-of-the-art operating rooms, and intensive care unit beds, the new tower will help resolve capacity issues, rising health care demands, and aging facilities. UI Hospitals & Clinics is consistently at, and often above, full capacity, which affects UI Health Care’s ability to fulfill its commitment to care for all Iowans.

“Over the next decade, Iowa will face a health care crisis related to an aging population with complex care needs,” said UI Vice President for Medical Affairs Brooks Jackson.

“This new facility is an important piece of a larger plan to meet these needs, and this visionary gift will positively impact the lives of Iowans throughout the state for generations to come.”


© 2024 Lifestyles Magazine International. All Rights Reserved.