BOSTON (AP) – Media mogul Sumner Redstone is donating $35 million to Massachusetts General Hospital to improve its emergency care of burn and trauma patients.
The gift – the largest ever received by the hospital – was one of three announced Wednesday by Redstone, the chairman and controlling shareholder of both CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. Redstone is also making $35 million awards through his charitable foundation to Cedars-Sinai Prostate Cancer Center in Los Angeles and to a Washington, D.C.-based disease research organization called Faster Cures/The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions.
Redstone has long been a supporter of Massachusetts General.
The Boston native and Harvard University graduate established the hospital’s Sumner M. Redstone Burn Center in 1974.
His latest award will support research and training at the burn center, which will be relocated and expanded.
The gift also will reconfigure and expand the hospital’s emergency department, and create the Sumner M. Redstone Burn and Trauma Service, a fund to promote advances in burn and trauma care.
The award “will transform the way we care for many of our most seriously ill and injured patients, providing state-of-the-art care for decades to come,” said Peter Slavin, president of Massachusetts General.
Redstone suffered third-degree burns over most of his body in a 1979 hotel fire that he only narrowly survived.
He was also diagnosed with prostate cancer, but was treated and recovered fully, a Viacom spokeswoman said.
Redstone said in a statement, “Advancements in research and medical science are creating a better and a higher quality of life for all of us. Like many, I have personally benefited from these advancements.”
Redstone suffered third-degree burns over most of his body in a 1979 hotel fire that he only narrowly survived. He was also diagnosed with prostate cancer, but was treated and recovered fully, a Viacom spokeswoman said.
AP-ES-04-18-07 1652EDT
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