The Medical Center received the second largest donation in University history, amounting to $52.6 million, University President John T. Casteen III announced Friday.
Ward Buchanan, who graduated from the University Law School in 1914, bequeathed his estate to the University shortly before his death in 1942.
Buchanan specified in his will that his estate be transferred to the University after his last living heir had deceased.
The will also requested that the donation be used for "hospital purposes," which is why the donation has gone to the Medical Center.
"We are going to focus [the donation] on the support of new clinical programs," said R. Edward Howell, vice president and chief executive officer of the Medical Center. "It isn't going to be used to offset existing expenses."
Howell did not speculate on what specific programs may be created, but said there was a possibility that more jobs may be created to support the programs, particularly if the new programs brought in more patients.
"Jobs need to be related to the number of patients," he said.
The gift, which will be known as the Buchanan Fund, will create an endowment that will generate approximately $2.5 million a year. The interest will be spent conservatively, according to the Office of Development, in order to protect the endowment from losing value to inflation.
University Spokeswoman Louise Dudley said it was important to note the University cannot spend the gift all at once.
"This is a very nice surprise," Dudley said. The endowment "is a large amount of money but it's not coming with permission to spend it all right away."
Buchanan was born in Ohio in 1891, the son of an early executive of Proctor & Gamble. After serving as a field artillery officer in the army after he graduated from the Law School, he took a position as manager of the Proctor & Gamble Detroit office in 1921.
Buchanan's estate officially was transferred to the University after his last heir, cousin Helen Hackwell, recently died. Alice Handy, president of the University Investment Management Company, supervised the transfer.
The Medical Center recently received a similar gift from Darden School alumnus William H. Goodwin Jr. to fund research for cancer vaccines. Unlike Goodwin's gift, the Buchanan fund does not designate how the Medical Center must use the money.
Buchanan's donation ranks second in the history of financial gifts to the University behind Frank Batten Sr.'s $60 million gift to the Darden School in 1999.
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