$70-million gift, largest in University of Iowa history, for new patient care building

The Richard O. Jacobson Foundation has committed a transformational $70 million gift to the University of Iowa to support a new patient care building for University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics.

The gift, the largest in the university’s 175-year history, will help UI Health Care expand services by increasing patient capacity, while modernizing its care facilities, according to a Tuesday release. The new building will help UI Health Care to meet the complex care needs of all Iowans, allowing them to receive high-quality care without leaving the state.

The new patient care tower, planned for UI Health Care’s main campus across from Kinnick Stadium, will be named in honor of the late Richard O. Jacobson and his philanthropic legacy, pending approval from the Board of Regents, State of Iowa. The building is part of the university’s 10-year revitalization plan that encompasses academic, health care, and research buildings on its central campus.

“We are proud to serve Iowa with our state’s only comprehensive academic medical center, providing life-saving and life-changing care to people from across the state and beyond,” UI President Barbara Wilson said in the release. “Richard Jacobson’s commitment to the UI was extraordinary, and this latest and very generous gift on his behalf will allow our exceptional health care team to deliver the highest level of care to all Iowans.”

Featuring single inpatient rooms, state-of-the-art operating rooms, and intensive care unit beds, the new tower will help resolve capacity issues, rising health care demands, and aging facilities. UI Hospitals & Clinics is consistently at, and often above, full capacity, which affects UI Health Care’s ability to fulfill its commitment to care for all Iowans, according to the release.

“Over the next decade, Iowa will face a health care crisis related to an aging population with complex care needs,” said UI Vice President for Medical Affairs Brooks Jackson. “This new facility is an important piece of a larger plan to meet these needs, and this visionary gift will positively impact the lives of Iowans throughout the state for generations to come.”

Richard “Dick” Orrin Jacobson (1936-2016), who grew up in Belmond, Iowa, received the UI Distinguished Alumni Award in 2000 for his extraordinary support for the university. A 1957 alum, Jacobson’s giving to the UI during his lifetime and through his foundation totals more than $86 million (including the new gift).

It includes support for the Iowa Reading Research Center, the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center in the Henry B. Tippie College of Business, and Hawkeye athletics; the Richard O. Jacobson Football Operations Building is named in recognition of his football program support. Previous support for UI Health Care includes gifts to UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital, the UI Stead Family Department of Pediatrics, and to support the pandemic response.

“Dick Jacobson is an extraordinary example of how Iowans give back to care for Iowans,” said UI Center for Advancement President and CEO Lynette Marshall. “His passionate commitment to education and medical research is an inspiration, and we are thankful for his vision, which has continued to be carried out by his foundation.”

“University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics has long been a beacon of hope for Iowans and others with serious health conditions,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said. “This generous gift from the Richard O. Jacobson Foundation will not only expand access to world-class care in our state, it will further elevate UIHC’s national reputation as a health care innovator and attract more medical professionals to fulfilling careers in Iowa.”

“The generosity of this gift is extraordinary,” said Michael J. Richards, president of the Board of Regents, State of Iowa. “UI Health Care must continue to prosper and grow, and this transformational funding gets the planning of the 10-year UI medical campus modernization off to a phenomenal start. I look forward to updates from the university.”

“A gift of this magnitude is truly remarkable,” said Sherry Bates, president pro tem of the Board of Regents and chair of the UI Hospitals & Clinics Committee. “UI Health Care provides unique, high-quality health care for the entire state of Iowa. As the planning process moves forward, I am excited to see more details, which will make the services UI Health Care offers even better.”

The university is asking permission to name the tower in recognition of Richard O. Jacobson’s legacy of giving at the board’s Feb. 23 meeting.