A recent donation rooted in philanthropy marks the highest individual gift to the J. David Gladstone Institutes since the group’s initial founding in the 1970s.
William S. Price III and his wife, Eva, have donated $4.25 million to the Institutes, which specialize in funding biomedical research, including finding cures for HIV/AIDS and cardiovascular and neurological diseases. Price joined the Gladstone Institutes’ Advisory Council in 2004, and has served as its chair for over two years. Price is the now-retired co-founder of the Texas Pacific Group.
“I joined the Gladstone Advisory Council five years ago because I saw in Gladstone a very special group of people and a very special environment where exceptional things could happen,” Price said. “I would argue that pound-for-pound, Gladstone is the highest-impact biomedical research center in the nation.”
The funds donated by the Prices will be used to establish the Robert W. and Linda Mahley Endowed Professorship. Robert Mahley is the departing president of the organization. The new president of the Institutes will hold the professorship funded by the donation from Price and his wife.
This year, the Gladstone Institutes is celebrating its 30th anniversary, having been established with an $8 million endowment. That initial money has grown to an endowment of over $200 million, and the institute has given more than $250 million to help fund research.
The institute is working on finishing its first five-year fundraising campaign and has a goal of raising $35 million by the end of for this year. Funds are used to help support three Gladstone institutes: the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, and the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease.
The institute has also worked to form partnerships with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Recently, biotechnology firm InVitria served as a sponsor for the Institutes’ Life Science Product Show, which was held in July of this year at the University of California, San Francisco, Mission Bay Campus.
