Nov. 18, 2024

By Dave Scheiber

Anticipation and gratitude filled the air in the downstairs conference room of the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Center & Research Institute. The institute’s leaders were gathered for a gift presentation on behalf of a man who, in life, had regularly donated in $10,000 increments. Always anonymously. 

When the generous benefactor passed away, he left one more gift as part of his estate. Another $10,000 would be greatly appreciated and make an impact on the institute’s research and support for patients and their caregivers.

“We just finished saying hello when we heard the amount of the gift, and our jaws dropped,” recalls Dr. Gopal Thinakaran, CEO of the Byrd Alzheimer’s Center. “My first reaction was, ‘He is going to create a legacy to support Alzheimer’s research for a long, long time to come.’”

The gift? $6.5 million.

He designated no restrictions on how the money could be spent. “We can structure it in a way that best serves our needs in priority areas,” says Thinakaran. “One immediate need is to establish professorships to recognize individuals who have contributed to Alzheimer’s research. This will allow us to recruit renowned Alzheimer’s disease researchers.” 

A friend of the donor, who also requested anonymity, joined the presentation and got chills from seeing the overjoyed response. “Nobody in the room knew that was coming,” she says. “I could feel the impact immediately. It would make him so happy to know he was making such a difference.”

The Byrd Alzheimer’s Center, the world's largest standalone diagnostic facility offering
comprehensive memory care services under one roof, has garnered national recognition for its groundbreaking work.

“This is a significant gift that will help advance the University of South Florida’s mission to use innovative research to solve complex problems and create a healthier future,” says USF President Rhea Law. “We deeply appreciate this donor’s generosity that will allow us to further expand the Byrd Center’s critical efforts to improve the lives of Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers as we push for new discoveries that lead to a cure for this disease.”

Though the donor chose to remain anonymous, his generosity leaves a profound legacy, added Jay Stroman, senior vice president of USF Advancement and Alumni Affairs.

“The Byrd Center’s faculty, staff and students, and the many volunteers who participate in their studies, are doing life-changing work,” Stroman says. “This donor recognized that and ensured they can continue to build upon those efforts. We are extremely grateful for his vision and his compassion.”

The donor was a successful businessman and voracious researcher himself, says his friend. He was motivated to learn all he could about Alzheimer’s disease after seeing its effects on friends and family members. 

“It didn’t matter what the topic was, he would research it, whether it was a small tool to fix a car or a car itself,” she says. “Honestly, I didn’t buy anything without asking him first, because he’d already researched it. He was that type of individual and very, very generous with his time, talent and treasure.”

Dr. Amanda Smith, the institute’s director of clinical research, says the surprise donation will have an enormous impact. 

“This extremely generous gift has great potential to make a difference in the lives of patients and families living with these conditions, and to fund research that will bring us closer to a cure,” says Dr. Smith, also a director in the Morsani College of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences. “We are so grateful.”

Those who care for people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias will benefit as well, says Eileen Poiley, director of education for the Byrd institute.

“It will make it possible for us to increase certain caregiver education and community education efforts,” she said.

Poiley is heavily involved in those initiatives, overseeing all the caregiver education endeavors, including a weekly podcast where she offers practical tips on a variety of topics, from making the home more memory-friendly to preventing anger and agitation. 

“We have people listening from 29 countries and have received great feedback,” she says. “This gift will enable us to expand our reach and create diverse and innovative new caregiver programming. We consider caregiving almost part of the treatment.”

Such far-reaching impacts will, hopefully, inspire others to give, says the donor’s friend. 

“Although he wanted this gift to be anonymous, I am certain he would want everyone to know about the impactful and life-changing research accomplished by USF Byrd Alzheimer’s Research Institute as well as the patient care and amazing programs they offer,” she says. “A gift of this size — or any size — can make a big difference in people’s lives.”