The chairman of St. Louis-based Enterprise Holdings and his wife have donated $50 million to Washington University’s neuroscience department.
Andrew and Barbara Taylor gave the gift in appreciation for care he received from Wash U neurologists during a recent Illness, according to an announcement from the university.
“Throughout his care, even when he was ill and not at his best, Andrew was always asking what he could do for us,” said Greg Zipfel, the head of the school’s department of neurosurgery.
Zipfel said the donation will help recruit scientists, doctors and researchers and will fund residency and fellowship programs. It will also fund more research into emerging fields such as neuromodulation, a practice that stimulates nerves to reduce pain, Parkinson’s disease and psychiatric disorders.
The money will also allow researchers to study experimental fields and take part in “high-risk, high reward projects,” without relying on timetables or priorities from granting agencies, officials said in the announcement.
“I hope it will save other families from going through what I had to go through,” Taylor said. “If they do, they will get great care like I did.”
The school is renaming the department the Taylor Family Department of Neurosurgery to honor the donation.
Taylor is the son of Enterprise founder Jack Taylor. Enterprise Holdings comprises several rental car companies and transportation services.
He’s served as a trustee of Washington University, and the Taylor family has in the past given tens of millions to the school, including $15 million to support first-generation and low-income undergraduates at the university.
