A Perfect Match

Pauley Family Foundation gives $5 million to VCU Pauley Heart Center

Mr. Stanley F. Pauley and Mrs. Dorothy A. Pauley pose with their family at the 2013 Pauley Heart Center Consortium.

Mr. Stanley F. Pauley and Mrs. Dorothy A. Pauley pose with their family at the 2013 Pauley Heart Center Consortium.

In February 2013, the Pauley Family Foundation gave $5 million to support the expansion and enhancement of recruitment and research at the Pauley Heart Center at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center.

“This is a project that is near and dear to my heart,” said Stanley F. Pauley, whose Pauley Family Foundation is a longtime supporter of VCU.

The Pauley gift will have an even bigger impact because of the generosity of another couple. Shortly before their deaths more than 55 years ago, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow included the MCV Campus in their estate plan. After the death of their last heir in 2011, the couple’s philanthropic vision made possible a cash gift to VCU of nearly $45 million, the largest cash gift in the university’s history. The gift was dedicated to research into cancer and other degenerative diseases and became the VCU Glasgow Endowment, which provided a dollar-for-dollar match for the recent Pauley gift.

The philanthropic connection between Pauley and the heart center began in 2006. That’s when the former heart center patient, impressed by the staff and treatment he received, directed his family foundation to make a $5 million gift to VCU for its heart center, which was later renamed the Pauley Heart Center.

“The care these health care professionals provide is so genuine and moving that it is an honor to contribute to research that will enable them to learn even more about heart disease,” Pauley said.

The VCU Pauley Heart Center was among the first in the United States to implant the CardioWest temporary Total Artificial Heart, or TAH-t — the only total artificial heart approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — and is known for many of its heart programs, including work in ventricular assist devices, electrophysiology, emergency cardiac care, atrial fibrillation treatment, cardiothoracic surgery and heart transplantation.

“VCU’s progress as one of the nation’s top 50 public research universities has been accelerated by a series of game-changers, and the Pauley Family Foundation’s latest generous gift is another example,” said Michael Rao, Ph.D., president of VCU and the VCU Health System. “Their continued support empowers my colleagues at the Pauley Heart Center to save lives and improve the human experience throughout Virginia and beyond.”

Mrs. Sharon Larkins-Pederson, Mrs. Jeanette Lipman and Dr. George W. Vetrovec.
Mrs. Sharon Larkins-Pederson, Mrs. Jeanette Lipman and Dr. George W. Vetrovec.

Also in February, VCU announced a fundraising campaign to raise an additional $5 million for the Pauley Heart Center. Several donors have made major leadership gifts to the Pauley Heart Center Campaign to help recruit new faculty and fund cutting-edge research.

These gifts to the VCU Pauley Heart Center, supported by the Glasgow Endowment match, will have a long-lasting impact, said Sheldon M. Retchin, M.D., senior vice president for VCU Health Sciences and CEO of the VCU Health System.

“The Pauley family contributions will be felt for generations to come,” he said. For more information about supporting the VCU Pauley Heart Center, please contact Brian Thomas, senior executive director of development at the MCV Foundation, at (804) 828-0067.