Mandel Foundation awards $30M gift to Cleveland Clinic. By donating $30 million to Cleveland Clinic, the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Foundation established the Morton L. Mandel CEO Chair and the Morton L. Mandel Innovation Fund.
The gift endows the CEO position at the clinic, making Dr. Tom Mihaljevic, the clinic’s current CEO and president, the inaugural occupant of the Mort Mandel Chair. Mort Mandel passed away in 2019 at the age of 98.
“We’re just so grateful to the Mandel Foundation for what is really a transformational gift that will have a significant impact to support our CEO, our leader, and the initiative that will help transform health care at the Cleveland Clinic,” Lara Kalafatis, chair of Cleveland Clinic’s Philanthropy Institute, told the Cleveland Jewish News Sept. 29.
The funding also creates a fund that the CEO can use to fund new projects and advance his or her vision. A committee will be established, according to Kalafatis, to assess opportunities and talk about ways the fund might enhance healthcare. For instance, the clinic recently announced and raised money for Dr. Vincent Tuohy’s efforts to develop a breast cancer vaccine. The clinic will be able to keep funding cutting-edge projects thanks to this cash.
Innovation is in the DNA of the Cleveland Clinic,” Kalafatis said. “So, to have a fund like this to respond to important areas and initiatives is really going to be important.”
Morton Mandel published his book, “It’s All About Who You Hire, How They Lead … and Other Essential Advice from a Self-Made Leader,” in 2012, and previous gifts from the Mandel Foundation to the clinic included a $23 million gift to the Global Leadership and Learning Institute for the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Global Leadership and Learning Pathway.
Kalafatis said just as patients are the clinic’s north star, leaders were Mandel’s.
“This is really a continuation of that because now this gift is supporting our leader, our CEO, and his initiatives that will advance health care, and health care that helps better serve our patients and our community,” she said.
During the leadership tenures of Mihaljevic and former clinic President and CEO Dr. Toby Cosgrove, the foundation has directed funds to the clinic’s urology department, and now to supporting leaders. The foundation previously gave an $8 million grant to Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland in partnership with the clinic to the Health Education Campus to construct the conference center, as well as given a number of smaller gifts over the years.
“We are deeply appreciative of this latest gift from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation,” Mihaljevic said in a news release. “Mort was an innovative leader, generous philanthropist and dear friend who left an incredible legacy at Cleveland Clinic and beyond. I am humbled and honored to be the inaugural holder of the Morton L. Mandel CEO Chair.”
