Couple donates $20 million to Hoag

Marisa O’Neil

A local businessman and his wife have given Hoag Hospital the largest

donation in its history, hospital officials announced Saturday.

Bond fund manager Bill Gross, managing director of Newport

Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Company, and his wife, Sue,

of Laguna Beach, donated $20 million to the hospital.

The money will go toward a seven-story tower and a center for

women’s health, set for completion in October, said Debra Legan, vice

president of marketing for the hospital.

The tower and women’s wellness center will bear the couple’s

names.

“This was a project that was already underway,” Bill Gross, 60,

said.

“It started in 1999. The Grosses are like the caboose here. We are

in no way the originators or brain trust, or have spent the hours on

it that lots of others have.

“t seemed like the appropriate time and project, especially with

the women’s health center.”

It’s the largest donation ever to the hospital and, as far as

hospital officials can tell, the largest ever to an Orange County

hospital, Legan said.

The previous largest donation was $6 million from the Hoag family,

she said.

The hospital started a campaign in 1999 to raise $50 million for

the new tower, she said.

The Gross’ donation has been in the works for about a year and

brings the total amount raised to $72 million, she said.

Of the donation, $10 million will go to construction, $4 million

to digital mammography equipment and the other $6 million to an

endowed program for women’s wellness, Legan said.

The Sue and Bill Gross Women’s Pavilion will house the Sue and

Bill Gross Women’s Wellness Center, as well as six new operating

rooms and procedure rooms, two floors of private patient rooms and a

maternity ward encompassing three floors.

It will serve as the main entrance to the hospital.

Both the Grosses have been treated at Hoag Hospital in the past.

“When we did go to the hospital we were able to see it really was

a community hospital,” Bill Gross said.

“It’s by the ocean in Newport Beach, but it’s not a hospital for

the rich, it is a hospital for the entire community.”

Bill Gross has twice been named Morningstar’s Fixed Income Manager

of the Year, and in 1993 he was named the most influential authority

on the U.S. bond market in Pensions and Investments magazine.

The couple established the James Hines Foundation, which awards

money each year to those named Orange County Teacher of the Year.

They have also donated $3 million to Sage Hill School in Newport

Coast to establish scholarships for students who could otherwise not

afford the private school, Bill Gross said.

Bill Gross manages the multibillion-dollar Pimco Total Return

Fund.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.