True wealth:
CEO adds record amount to a human investment at St. Jude
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Section: Business
Page: C1
Illustration: Photos
Source: Jane Roberts
Edition: Final
Kids with cancer don't care much about naming rights, even for golf tourneys that benefit them.
But they can't wait to touch people who care about them. Monday, minutes after R.Allen Stanford announced his company's $6 million gift to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, kids wiggled into his embrace, catching him in a completely unscripted moment at the hospital that will become ground zero for him in Memphis.
"There is nothing more important we can do as a corporation than to give back to the cities where we live and work," said Stanford, chairman and CEO of Stanford Private Wealth Management, title sponsor of the FedEx St. Jude Classic starting in 2007.
"We don't think there's a place we do it better than in Memphis."
The money will be given to the hospital's international outreach program, its work to fight catastrophic childhood disease in 16 countries, many of them in South America and Central America where Stanford does business.
And in a gift particularly fitting to the city, Stanford gave the hospital the first VeinViewer, the Memphis-based infrared technology that illuminates veins up to a half-inch beneath the skin's surface, making it easier for doctors and nurses to find a vein with the first needle prick, "eliminating numerous ... intrusions," Stanford said.
"Our job is the easy part. Our job simply is to provide the money," he said.
In less than 18 months, Stanford has become one of the hospital's biggest corporate sponsors, hosting the Marguerite Piazza St. Jude Gala for two years, putting on its first Angels and Stars Gala in Miami this year and signing on as title sponsor of Jim Courier's Champion's Cup in Houston and Memphis.
All proceeds will go to St. Jude.
"Stanford is a significant donor," said Betty Chiu, spokeswoman for ALSAC, the fund-raising arm of St. Jude.
"The $6 million the company gave today is the largest single gift to our international program."
Over three years, the money will help fund the $5 million St. Jude spends a year partnering with public hospitals around the world to improve the survival rates of children with catastrophic illness.
The privately owned Stanford has also signed a 10-year contract as lead sponsor of what will be the Stanford St. Jude Championship next year, taking over the role FedEx has played since 1986.
"We've got huge plans for the tournament," Stanford said. "FedEx was just getting started."
FedEx will stay involved as a presenting sponsor, but the bulk of its investment in the PGA Tour will focus on the FedEx Cup.
Stanford, which describes itself as "a global network of financial and affiliated services," opened a Memphis office in 1999.
It expanded in 2003 and 2004, and today has 60 employees at 6075 Poplar.
In August 2005, Sanford bought half-interest of Spring Creek Ranch, the Collierville course that was a runnerup in Golf Digest's 2001 "Best New Private Course in America" contest.
Title sponsorships on the PGA Tour generally require a minimum investment of $2 million-$4 million a year, though the cost could be significantly more, depending on hospitality centered on the tournament.
Stanford, which says it manages and advises $30 billion in investments, has donated millions to politicians of both parties and allows them to use its jets at reduced rates.
It recently donated $2.5 million to help restore the home of Stanford University founder Leland Stanford, who R. Allen Stanford has said is an ancestor.
If there is a blood connection, the university isn't aware of it.
"As far as I know, Mr. Stanford has no connection to Stanford University," according to university spokeswoman Susan Weinstein.
-Jane Roberts: 529-2512
Back to News