Indianapolis—
Wishard Hospital is moving forward with construction on a brand new facility and will soon bear a new name thanks to Sidney and Lois Eskenazi.Outside the near-downtown campus Wednesday morning, Wishard Foundation officials announced the couple donated $40 million for naming rights to the new hospital.
In the beginning, Sidney thought it would be for a room, or maybe a wing.
"Maybe $50,000 or something like that," Eskenazi recalled. "That's all I was thinking about, I don't know what they were thinking about."
Wishard was thinking about a new name for the whole group. The amount grew when the Eskenazi's saw the need of the aging hospital and the way Wishard serves Marion County's poor and uninsured.
"Wishard contacted us after that and we were so impressed with the story and how many people they help," Lois Eskenazi said.
The gift from the Eskenazi's is a substantial chunk of the cost of the $750 million construction that voters approved in 2009.
"They've been kind of under the radar, they've been generous in a lot of other ways with the city, around town, this is a very very special gift to go to a public hospital to serve those most in need," said Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard.
It also gives the Eskenzi's a legacy. Sidney grew up on Indianapolis's south side during the Depression, rising through his law practice and ultimately making his fortune in real estate development.
"I can't remember a time when they haven't thought about giving to charity or something for somebody else," said their daughter, Sandy Eskenazi, a physician's assistant in Denver, Colorado.
The new hospital, will be finished in December of 2013. If the name "Eskenazi Hospital" doesn't roll off the tongue yet, it should by then.
