Billionaire Ken Griffin gives $50 million to University of Miami's Sylvester cancer center

The University of Miami Health System's war on cancer has been fortified with some serious ammo.

And it's green.

The university on Tuesday announced a $50 million "transformational" gift to its $2.5 billion Ever Brighter fundraising campaign from Miami resident Ken Griffin, who also owns the largest estate in Palm Beach.

Griffin, who founded and is CEO of the hedge fund Citadel LLC and Citadel Securities, also established Griffin Catalyst, his personal philanthropic arm.

The gift is earmarked for a new 12-story, 244,000-square-foot facility at the Miller School of Medicine's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The new facility will enable SCCC to double its research footprint, accelerate the development of new therapies, enhance patient care and expand access to clinical trials.

The Kenneth C. Griffin Cancer Research Building, as it will be known, is expected to open next year.

"This landmark gift advances our sophisticated and comprehensive cancer reserch efforts," said Dr. Stephen D. Nimer, director of SCCC, executive dean for research at the Miller School and holder of the Oscar de la Renta Endowed Chair in cancer research.

"With bench scientists and clinicians co-localized, we can deliver on the promise of precision medicine and enable more familes in the region to benefit from novel lifesaving treatments," Nimer said in a statement.

"I am honored to support the transformational work of Sylvester’s team of physicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals," Griffin said in his statement. "They play a leading role in our community’s efforts to defeat cancer, by discovering, developing, and delivering life-saving treatments to those affected by this disease in South Florida and beyond.”

The new building comes as SCCC renews its coveted National Cancer Institute status. Its design will advance innovative research to develop new therapies and expand ongoing clinical trials, and includes such features as a focus on total-body wellness and state-of-the-art equipment.

A noted philanthropist, Griffin is a major donor to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and the Michael J. Fox Foundation, among others.

Griffin's Palm Beach estate measures 27 acres — mostly vacant — that companies he controlled bought for more than $500 million in transactions that began in 2012, according to courthouse records and estimates by the Palm Beach Daily News. Griffin is building for his mother an oceanfront mansion on roughly 7 acres on the north side of the estate.

Griffin relocated his Citadel empire from Chicago in 2022. Forbes estimates his wealth at $38.6 billion.

The donation to Sylvester is Griffin’s largest philanthropic gift in Florida to date and among the 10 largest health-care-related philanthropic gifts in Florida in the past decade, according to a press release from the university.

“Ken Griffin has an amazing history of high-impact and effective giving,” said University of Miami President Julio Frenk, also a medical doctor. “Battling cancer requires a team approach and this building will bring warriors together — scientists, clinicians and patients — to deliver inspiration and hope.”

Griffin's philanthropy includes a $20 million gift in 2018 to help fund the expansion of The Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, where a wing is named for him.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Billionaire Ken Griffin gives $50 million to University of Miami