(Bloomberg) -- Herbert Irving, the Sysco Corp. co-founder and philanthropist who donated more than $300 million to Columbia University Medical Center in New York, has died. He was 98.
He died Oct. 3 at his home in Manhattan, his son, Ron Irving, said in a telephone interview.
Irving was the last surviving founder of Sysco, the world’s largest food-services provider that was formed in 1969 when the owners of 12 different businesses merged their operations. Irving became vice chairman of the board and head of its finance committee, and provided $500,000 to back a loan for interim capital that the Houston-based company needed to get started to sell its frozen French fries, corn and fish sticks.
Sysco, whose initial public offering was in 1970, employs about 52,000 people, and has a market value of $26.5 billion. It reported sales of $50.4 billion in its latest fiscal year.
Using the fortune he made from Sysco, Irving and his wife, Florence, gave more than $300 million to Columbia University Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian.
Biggest Impact
“No one philanthropist has had a bigger impact on the medical school than Herb and Florence Irving,” said Lee Goldman, dean of the faculties of health sciences and medicine and chief executive of Columbia University Medical Center.
Irving made his first donation to Columbia after being treated by its doctors. His contributions have helped pay for specialized cancer-treatment centers, scholarships and out-patient facilities. “Cancer always needs money,” he said in an interview in 2013.
“He had a broader vision and a longer commitment than most donors,” said Robert Kelly, the former president of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, part of the Columbia’s medical center. “He was committed to dealing with this disease and knew that it was going to be a lifetime commitment.”
Herbert Irving was born Nov. 5, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and served in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II.
Career Path
After he was discharged from the military, Irving returned to his job as a teacher but found that he and his wife couldn’t start a family on his salary. He then joined his brother-in-law to start Global Frozen Foods Inc., which evolved to become Sysco.
He and his wife made their first substantial donation to Columbia University Medical Center in 1987, giving $8.5 million. At the time, Columbia was lagging behind other hospitals in the U.S. in conducting clinical cancer research.
“His initial gift to support the center was critical in getting us into the game of clinical research,” said David Bickers, chairman of the dermatology department at Columbia’s medical center. “If he had not come along and jump-started us in that area, it would have taken years for us to become a serious force in cancer research.”
Cancer Research
A 1995 donation of $6 million was used to found the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, which the National Cancer Institute designates as one of the facilities at the forefront of U.S. research into the disease.
His funding was used to establish the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research and the Florence and Herbert Irving Clinical Research Career Awards, also known as the Irving Scholars program, to support those starting a career in medical research.
“Doing something like this is his way of giving back to the world, distributing his wealth rather than accumulating it,” Kelly said. “That is what separates the remarkably wonderful philanthropist from rich people.”
The Irvings were known for their collection of Asian art, some of which can be seen at the Florence and Herbert Irving Asian Wing of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In addition to his son, Ron, and wife, his survivors include children Jeff and Gail.
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