By DAILY PRESS STAFF
SANTA MONICA BLVD The creators of the publishing business that spawned Hot Rod and Motor Trend magazines donated $15 million to Saint John’s Health Center and the John Wayne Cancer Institute, it was announced Friday.
The cancer clinics in St. John’s new Howard Keck Diagnostic and Treatment Center will be named for donors Margie and Robert Petersen, longtime supporters of the Santa Monica hospital and cancer institute.
“My doctors at Saint John’s taught me that cancer is a chronic illness, not a death sentence,”said Margie Petersen, a breast cancer survivor.
“We feel our gift can help advance the research and treatment Saint John’s and John Wayne Cancer Institute are doing to help thousands of patients suffering from many forms of this disease,” she said. “It is a happy coincidence that John Wayne and Mr. Petersen were close friends for many years.”
The Margie and Robert E. Petersen Cancer Clinics — scheduled to open next year — will be the clinical home of the Radiation Oncology Center, the Breast Center and the Cancer Clinic, according to hospital officials.
Along with the Petersen clinics, the 275,000-square-foot, four-story Keck center will house the Southland’s newest emergency department, state-of-the-art operating rooms and cath labs, and an advanced imaging center.
The Petersens’ gift supplements a $35 million donation from philanthropists Michele Chan and Patrick Soon-Shiong, chairman and CEO of Abraxis BioScience.
Dr. Armando Giuliano, who treated Margie Petersen, said his former patient’s gift “is a tribute to the Petersen’s love of life and concern for the well-being of the community.”
“They serve as role models to every patient who faces cancer,” said Giuliano, director of the John Wayne Cancer Institute Breast Center.
The Petersens are the founding benefactors, through a $40 million donation, to the 300,000-square-foot Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
They also donated the building that houses the Boys and Girls Club in Hollywood and were founding members of the Thalians Mental Health Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 2, 2008. Read the original PDF.