NYU Langone Medical Center

Overview: Stanley originally aspired to be a doctor. However, university quotas imposed at the time stood in his way of acceptance into medical school. As fate would have it, Stanley would dedicate his life to the education field, only to revisit his childhood passion of medicine years later through the Foundation’s philanthropic efforts. A long-time Board Member of NYU Langone Medical Center (NYUMC), Stanley led the Foundation’s involvement with and support of the medical center. Such support included: the establishment of the Skirball Building, Kaplan Comprehensive Cancer Center (now known as the Perlmutter Cancer Center), Stanley H. Kaplan Professor and Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and other projects.

Giving Highlight: In response to the government’s negative policies regarding stem cell research, Stanley urged the Foundation to undertake its largest gift to date, a $4.2m pledge to establish the Rita J. & Stanley H. Kaplan Stem Cell/Bone Marrow Transplant Center. The six-bed, state-of-the-art transplant unit and research facility opened in February 2011.