Longtime Mayo patient leaves $43M to clinic
The Mayo Clinic announced Thursday that it has received more than $43 million from an Indiana businesswoman’s estate.
The Rochester-based medical giant said this is the third-largest estate gift it has ever received.
Juanita Waugh, who died in February, one day before her 88th birthday, and her parents were patients of Mayo for more than 60 years. The clinic said the money will help with educational programs on Mayo’s three campuses in Rochester, Jacksonville, Fla., and the Phoenix area.
Mayo also said some of the money will help fund construction of an educational conference center on Arizona’s campus and rapidly advance MayoExpert, an online tool that Mayo physicians can use to connect with their colleagues to provide state-of-the-art care for their patients.
Also, a large part of Waugh’s bequest will go toward scholarships in the Mayo Graduate School. Additionally, her gift will name and endow the Executive Dean of Education.
Waugh spent most of her adult life managing a complex farming business. This gift was made in memory of her parents Lloyd Augustus Waugh and Laura Blanche Kious Waugh.
“Ms. Waugh’s legacy will live on through her generosity to Mayo Clinic,” said Dr. John Noseworthy, president and CEO of Mayo Clinic. “Students, educators, clinicians and the public will benefit from this extraordinary gift.”
The two larger gifts were $127.9 million from the estate of Barbara Woodward Lips in 1995 and $52 million from George Eisenberg’s estate in 1989. Lips was a onetime lumber mill secretary who became a Texas gas, oil and ranching entrepreneur and collector of exquisite jewelry. Eisenberg was founder of American Decal and Manufacturing in Chicago.
Waugh’s trust also gave to St. Joseph’s College of Rensselaer, Ind., about 7,600 acres of farm land in nearby White County, valued at more than $40 million. Waugh was a fellow of St. Joseph’s and close friend of the Rev. Charles Banet, who was the Catholic college’s president from 1965 to 1993.