Providence Saint John's Receives $100M Record Donation

Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica is the recipient of the largest donation in its history: $100 million from the estate of Stan Lucas, a Venice resident and automotive entrepreneur who was treated for prostate cancer at the hospital before his death.

Lucas designated the Saint John’s Health Center Foundation as the primary beneficiary of his estate. The funds are directed toward prostate cancer research, diagnostics, treatment, and prevention. A portion of the gift establishes the Stanley H. Lucas Endowed Chair in Urology, which will support work on prostate cancer and other urologic diseases.

The disease Lucas chose to fight with his estate isn’t a minor one by any measure. According to the National Cancer Institute, prostate cancer accounted for more than 15% of all new cancer cases in a recent tracking year. Nearly 314,000 new diagnoses were recorded. About 120 men out of every 100,000 were diagnosed, and more than 3.5 million American men were living with the disease as of 2022. It’s also responsible for 5.8% of all cancer deaths. Those aren’t abstract statistics for a man who spent time in Saint John’s care rooms getting treated for exactly that.

He didn’t split the money up. He didn’t hedge. He put the whole estate behind this one cause, at this one institution.

Sheryl Bourgeois, president and chief executive of the Saint John’s Health Center Foundation, spoke directly to what that kind of commitment means. “Stan’s gift is the purest form of philanthropy,” Bourgeois told the foundation. “While he will never personally benefit from this investment, his legacy will fuel advancements that transform care, push us beyond today’s limits and change outcomes for patients far into the future. With this gift, the largest in our history, comes both an honor and a responsibility. We intend to rise to it.”

“Michael Ricks, chief executive of the Providence L.A. Coastal service area and Providence Saint John’s Health Center, echoed that tone.” Ricks addressed the trust Lucas placed in the institution and the staff who treated him. “Stan Lucas believed deeply in this hospital, in the physicians and caregivers who cared for him, and in what is possible when excellence and compassion come together,” Ricks said. “We are profoundly honored by the confidence he placed in us and committed to stewarding his legacy with purpose and integrity.”

Lucas built his money through Lucas Automotive Engineering, a company that supplied parts to Ford Motor Co. and later shifted into manufacturing specialized tires for antique vehicles. He wasn’t a household name in Los Angeles philanthropy circles before this. He was known among car collectors, a Venice resident whose wealth came from machined parts and old vehicles, not from venture capital or a studio lot. That’s worth noting. This wasn’t a branding exercise. There’s no Lucas Pavilion going up on a campus quad. The money goes to an endowed chair and to research that other patients will eventually benefit from, long after Stan Lucas can’t.

Providence operates the hospital as part of its L.A. Coastal service area. The $100 million gift is the largest single donation in Saint John’s history. The LA Business Journal reported on the donation’s significance within the regional healthcare giving landscape, where nine-figure gifts to individual hospitals don’t happen often.

Endowed chairs work as long-term funding mechanisms. The chair’s principal stays intact, and the interest it generates funds the position year over year. For a hospital urology department, that means a dedicated researcher or clinician whose salary and work aren’t dependent on grant cycles or annual fundraising campaigns. It’s a stable platform, and it’s what the Stanley H. Lucas Endowed Chair in Urology will provide for 30 or more years of work on these diseases.

The foundation confirmed the gift publicly this past week. What Lucas left behind isn’t a building with his name on it. It’s 30-plus years of funded research into a disease that kills tens of thousands of American men annually, backed by $100 million from a guy who made parts for old cars and believed the doctors who treated him could do more if they had what they needed.