Legacy of Ms. Juanita Kious Waugh Will Live On Through Her Generosity to Mayo Clinic

Thursday, August 12, 2010

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic announced today that the late Ms. Juanita Kious Waugh of Brookston, Ind., bequeathed to Mayo Clinic more than $43 million, the third largest estate gift in Mayo Clinic's history. As a not-for-profit organization, Mayo Clinic relies on benefactor support for innovations in patient care, pioneering research and the education of future generations of physicians and allied health care providers.

Ms. Waugh and her parents were patients of Mayo Clinic for more than 60 years. Passionate about Mayo, she recognized the value of investing in education to continually advance medical science and improve patient care. Her gift will provide both operating and endowment funds to initiate and advance educational programs on Mayo's three campuses in Rochester Minn.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Phoenix/Scottsdale, Ariz. For example, Ms. Waugh's generosity will go towards construction of an educational conference center on Arizona's campus and rapidly advance MayoExpert, an innovative and sophisticated online tool that Mayo physicians can use to connect with their colleagues to provide state-of-the-art care for their patients. A significant portion of her bequest will be used as an endowment for scholarships in the Mayo Graduate School. Additionally, her gift will name and endow the Executive Dean of Education.

Ms. Waugh passed away the day before her 88th birthday earlier this year. She attended Indiana University in Bloomington and spent the majority of her adult life managing a complex farming business. This gift was made in memory of her parents Lloyd Augustus Waugh and Laura Blanche Kious Waugh.

"The impact of medical education has a profound effect worldwide. Mayo Clinic teaches the doctors of tomorrow and we keep today's medical professionals at the cusp of new knowledge for the benefit of patients," says John Noseworthy, M.D., president and CEO of Mayo Clinic. "Ms. Waugh's legacy will live on through her generosity to Mayo Clinic. Students, educators, clinicians and the public will benefit from this extraordinary gift."

Philanthropy is essential to Mayo Clinic's mission and future. Mayo increasingly relies on the generosity of benefactors, 85 percent of whom are grateful patients, to support Mayo's activities in practice, education and research that will transform medicine and transform people's lives.

Philanthropy at Mayo Clinic supports a variety of initiatives. It provides essential funding for our collective work supporting Mayo's not-for-profit mission and financial security for patient care, education and research. The motivation for the overwhelming majority of those who give to Mayo Clinic is gratitude for the care and service they received from Mayo staff. Gifts of all sizes are critical to Mayo Clinic's future. Mayo received nearly 162,381 gifts last year, and more than 97 percent of those gifts were under $1,000.

###

About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit MayoClinic.com or MayoClinic.org/news.

Journalists can become a member of the Mayo Clinic News Network for the latest health, science and research news and access to video, audio, text and graphic elements that can be downloaded or embedded.