PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife Penny Knight have pledged to donate $2 billion to Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute, the school announced Thursday, describing it as the largest single gift to a U.S. university.
“This gift is an unprecedented investment in the millions of lives burdened with cancer, especially patients and families here in Oregon,” OHSU President Shereef Elnahal said in a statement.
The donation will help ensure patients have access to various resources, including psychological, genetic and financial counseling, symptom management, nutritional support and survivorship care, the university statement said.
“We couldn’t be more excited about the transformational potential of this work for humanity,” the Knights said in the statement.
The university described it as the “largest single donation ever made to a U.S. university, college or academic health center.” It surpasses the $1.8 billion given by Michael Bloomberg to Johns Hopkins in 2018, described by that university at the time as the largest single contribution to a U.S. university.
Bloomberg also donated an additional $1 billion to Johns Hopkins last year, covering tuition, living expenses and fees for students from families under certain income levels.
The magnitude of the donation will allow the Knight Cancer Institute to become a self-governed entity with its own board of directors within OHSU, the university said.
Knight is Oregon’s richest man. In 2013, he and his wife pledged $500 million to the cancer institute if the university matched it within two years. The match was met following $200 million in bonds from the Oregon Legislature, $100 million from then-chair of Columbia Sportswear Gert Boyle and donations from some 10,000 people, the university said.
Universities across the country are struggling with moves from President Donald Trump’s administration to cancel or freeze research grants at universities.
