The day the Jordan family's gift was announced, Dolores Jordan, at left, and her sister, Gerrie Holochuck, toured Children's Hospital's research institute with Bertram Lubin, MD, Children's president and CEO.

Jordan Family Gives $9.8 Million for Research

The Jordan gift will give research into cellular therapies, including cord blood, and blood and marrow transplants, a big boost at Children's Hospital Oakland.

East Bay resident Dolores Jordan made a $9.8 million donation in June to Children’s Hospital Oakland’s research center on behalf of herself, her late husband, Hanabul “Bud” Jordan, and her late brother-in-law, Lowell Jordan, all longtime East Bay residents. It was the largest such gift ever received by Children’s Hospital.

The gift will help establish a new Jordan Family Center for Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapies Research at Children’s Hospital.

Cellular therapies, like bone marrow and cord-blood transplants, are used to help children with diseases like leukemia, thalassemia and sickle cell disease. More than 100 children have been cured since Children’s BMT program began nearly 10 years ago.

The Jordan family had previously made donations totaling more than $420,000 to Children’s Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT) program. “Bud and Lowell grew up in Hayward and lived their entire lives in the East Bay,” said Mrs. Jordan. “We support Children’s because it serves East Bay kids and because its research into bone marrow transplantation and other life-saving therapies impacts children worldwide.”

$8 Million of Gift to Support New Researchers

At Mrs. Jordan’s request, $8 million of the gift will establish four endowed chairs to support the new center’s research. The remainder of the gift may be used for current needs.

“For programs that donors wish to see continued far into the future, endowments are ideal,” said Brad Barber, Children’s senior vice president and chief development officer. “An endowment provides a secure and permanent stream of funding for valuable programs. It’s the only true form of immortality that I know of.”

The first Jordan Family Chair will be filled by Mark Walters, MD, director of Children’s BMT program. The other endowed chairs will be named to honor individual members of the Jordan family: The Lowell Jordan Chair, The Hanabul “Bud” Jordan Chair and The Dolores Jordan Chair. Appointments to these chairs will be announced in the near future.

Bud Jordan owned a Hayward-based construction business and his brother, Lowell Jordan, ran the family’s cattle ranch in Dublin. Sale of the Jordan ranch funded the gift.

A Brief Guide to Endowed Chairs

When a philanthropic gift is made as an endowment, the donor gives the gift with the restriction that the donation be invested; only the annual earnings of the investment may be spent. Normally, only a specific percentage of the interest is spent; the remainder of the interest is reinvested to help ensure the growth of the endowment over time.

Endowments and “endowed chairs” allow a donor’s gift to keep giving to an institution in perpetuity, helping ensure the organization’s future viability and stability. One 340-year-old example is the Lucasian chair of mathematics at Cambridge University.

The Lucasian chair, first endowed in 1669, was once held by Sir Isaac Newton. Today it’s held by physicist Stephen Hawking.

An endowed chair generates annual income, from the donor’s gift, that can be used for things such as a salary for the person appointed to hold the chair and money that can be spent to enhance the program(s) that person manages.

This story, written by senior writer Tom Levy, first appeared in the July/August 2009 issue of Children's Hospital's PEDSnews magazine.