Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Starting next year, Oishei Children's Hospital in Buffalo will be known as Golisano Children’s Hospital of Buffalo.
This comes after B. Thomas Golisano, local businessman, billionaire and philanthropist, gifted the hospital $50 million on Tuesday. This gift comes with the naming rights to the hospital in Golisano's name in perpetuity.
"We are exceptionally grateful to Tom Golisano for this historic gift, which will make an incredible impact on our mission to advance the health of our community’s moms, kids and babies," said Don Boyd, president and CEO of Kaleida Health on Tuesday. "Today is a great day for the families who rely on us to be here, providing exceptional care when they need us most. Mr. Golisano’s generosity is extraordinary. He truly believes in the power of philanthropy and its lasting impact on communities."
Golisano is the founder of Paychex, the nation’s largest human resource company for small-to-medium-sized businesses, and the Golisano Foundation, one of the nation’s largest foundations dedicated to supporting programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. His philanthropic contributions to education, animal welfare, disability services, and numerous other community organizations exceeds $900 million.
Buffalo will be the fourth Children's Hospital to bear the Golisano name:
- University of Rochester-Golisano Children’s Hospital in Rochester
- Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital in Syracuse
- Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida in Fort Myers
"I consider Buffalo, New York part of my hometown community, and am proud to make this investment in the health of its children. This support is about ensuring that every child, no matter their circumstances, has access to the highest quality care close to home," said Golisano on Tuesday. "The doctors, nurses, and staff here are what make that care possible, and I’m honored to support their work as we look ahead to all that the Golisano Children’s Hospital of Buffalo will accomplish for generations to come."
Buffalo’s Children’s Hospital led a community-wide campaign to build its new state-of-the-art facility that opened in November 2018. During that campaign, The John R. Oishei Foundation stepped up to gift $10 million to support the new hospital, which resulted in the name of the new facility.
The John R. Oishei Foundation board agreed to relinquish its naming rights following the gift from Golisano in support of the immense positive impact that a gift of this size will bring to the community’s kids and families.
According to Buffalo Business First, this gift represents the largest single philanthropic grant ever received by Kaleida Health, and is believed to be the largest of any single charitable gift made to any health care organizations in Western New York.
Golisano owned the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and the NLL's Buffalo Bandits from 2003-to-2011, and has been involved in numerous other Buffalo-area endeavors over the years.