Cancer center gets Disney name

Mark R. Madler

The new integrated cancer center at Providence St. Joseph Medical

Center will carry one of the most recognized names in entertainment

after a $10-million donation from Roy E. and Patricia Disney.

The gift is the largest in the Providence St. Joseph Foundation’s

history, officials said.

“This coming from Roy and Patricia Disney really speaks to who

they are and their belief of what philanthropy can do in terms of

healthcare,” said Patricia Modrzejewski, executive director of the

Providence Health System Foundations.

The donation brings the total raised to $20 million for the

$33.1-million cancer center proposed for the medical center campus.

The fundraising campaign began in April 2004.

The Disney family has a long history with Providence St. Joseph,

and Roy Disney, Walt Disney’s nephew, said he is pleased to be in a

position to help the facility out in a meaningful way.

He and his wife are particularly impressed with Dr. Raul Mena, the

medical director of cancer services at the medical center and the

guiding force behind the cancer center, Roy Disney said.

“It’s a wonderful idea that they’ll be able to look at cancer as a

general problem and treat people differently than they are at other

hospitals,” he said. “This will be a real resource to the community.

At the Roy and Patricia Disney Cancer Center, patients will have

access to physicians, nutritional counselors, therapists and a

research library all under one roof to provide a comprehensive

approach to treatment.

The couple already have three waiting areas named for them in a

new building on the medical center’s campus.

The $10-million gift comes a month after what was the largest gift

to the project: $1 million from the John Hench Foundation.

Hench was an illustrator and designer with the Walt Disney Co. --

whose screen credits include “Fantasia,” “Dumbo” and “Peter Pan” --

and who helped design areas of Disneyland. He died in February 2004.

Other notable donations include $500,000 gifts from Warner Bros.

Co. and the Mozilo Family Foundation.

In February, the city gave its approval for construction of the

55,000-square-foot cancer center. Work on a parking garage for the

center is scheduled to begin in June, although a date of a

groundbreaking on the center itself has not been set.

* MARK MADLER covers City Hall and the courts. He may be reached

at (818) 637-3242 or by e-mail at mark.madlerlatimes.com.