Sidney Kimmel: Helping Others
Historical and transformational giving
Sidney Kimmel
Photo by Julie Skarratt
“Someone once told me, don’t give like it’s a pinch; give till it hurts. Extend yourself and give to other people and to good causes.” These are the words of philanthropist and Kimmel Cancer Center benefactor Sidney Kimmel. In 2001, he made Johns Hopkins history with his $150 million donation — the largest single gift to the university at that time — to support cancer research and patient care.
The Cancer Center was renamed the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins in his honor.
This historic gift was one of many he made in support of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. Since 2001, he has contributed $157 million, and has given an additional $2.4 million to support 12 of our cancer scientists as part of the national Kimmel Scholars Program. Kimmel provided the lead funding for the Hackerman-Patz Patient and Family Pavilion, and he and Michael Bloomberg provided the lead gifts — contributing $50 million each — to establish the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in 2016.
“I am blessed. To be able to support one of the leading institutions in the world and build on its momentum gives so much meaning to what we have all done thus far to defeat cancer and provides even more hope for what can now be accomplished. My goal with this gift is to make meaningful advances in our knowledge of cancer,” said Kimmel in 2001.
His efforts in the world of cancer research have changed the face of the disease. He led the charge at the March: Coming Together to Conquer Cancer in Washington, D.C., in 1998, which resulted in a doubling of the National Cancer Institute’s budget. In addition, he has funded and named cancer centers at Thomas Jefferson University and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Among his most significant achievements in cancer research, Kimmel established the Kimmel Scholars Program, which funded the startup labs of nearly 300 of the nation’s most highly regarded researchers, giving birth to the next generation of cancer leadership. He is the recipient of numerous awards, and is the lead individual donor to Stand Up to Cancer, which raises millions annually to fund cancer research.
Sidney Kimmel is one of the great philanthropists of our age. His impact on the field of cancer research is without equal.”
William Nelson, Kimmel Cancer Center Director
As a child of the Great Depression, Kimmel remembers the struggles his parents endured providing for the family.
“My sole motive in life was to earn a living. I wanted to be able to help my family,” he said.
Kimmel, 95, earned his fortune as chairman and CEO of Jones Apparel Group Inc., which he founded in the mid-1970s. The group included such iconic labels as Jones New York, Nine West, Stuart Weitzman and Lauren. His “second career” was in the motion picture industry, where he pursued his love of film. Establishing Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, now SK Global Entertainment, he led the production of more than 60 pictures, which included the highly acclaimed United 93, Hell or High Water and Crazy Rich Asians.
He is part of “The Giving Pledge,” a commitment by the world’s wealthiest individuals to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy, a commitment that Sidney Kimmel has more than fulfilled already.
Kimmel’s philanthropy has reached deep into communities to support the arts, education and medicine, but, above all, his support of cancer research has helped advance the understanding of cancer and bring new and better treatments to patients.
“Sidney Kimmel is one of the great philanthropists of our age,” says William Nelson, Kimmel Cancer Center director. “His impact on the field of cancer research is without equal.”
Noteworthy News from the 2000s
2001
On Sept. 14, 2001, Kimmel Cancer Center patients, faculty and staff members join together in a healing service following the tragic terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
2002
Baltimore magazine’s “Best Doctors” issue includes Kimmel Cancer Center oncologists Martin Abeloff, M.D., Nancy Davidson, M.D., Ross Donehower, M.D., Mario Eisenberger, M.D., David Ettinger, M.D., Stuart Grossman, M.D., and Georgia Vogelsang, M.D.
2003
Scott Kern, M.D., links three genes associated with a rare disease known as Fanconi anemia to a subset of pancreatic cancers.
Joel Shaper, Ph.D., is selected to serve on the National Institutes of Health Pathobiochemistry Study Section.
2004
Saul Sharkis, Ph.D., finds that bone marrow stem cells exposed to damaged liver tissue converted into healthy liver cells and helped repair the damaged organ.
Angelo DeMarzo, M.D., Ph.D., and Alan Meeker, M.D., Ph.D., find that abnormal telomeres, the protective end caps on chromosomes, play a causal role in cancer development.
2006
Saraswati Sukumar, Ph.D., uses a tiny catheter inserted through the nipple to deliver anticancer drugs directly into the breast ducts.
Deborah Armstrong, M.D., revives a 50-year-old method for delivering chemotherapy directly into the abdomen for patients with ovarian cancer.
Akhilesh Pandy, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the Institute for Bioinformatics in Bangalore, India, create the Human Protein Reference Database of more than 25,000 human protein-to-protein interactions.
Victor Velculescu, M.D., Ph.D., reports that the PIK3CA gene is one of the two most highly mutated oncogenes (tumor-promoting gene) discovered in human tumors.
William Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., and Angelo DeMarzo, M.D., Ph.D., find that PhIP, a compound found in meats cooked at very high temperatures, such as open flames, could be linked to prostate pre-cancers.
Paula Pitha-Rowe, Ph.D., identifies a gene, ISG15, as an inhibitor of a cellular pathway used by HIV-1, the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus.
2007
Chi Dang, M.D., Ph.D., finds that the role of antioxidants may be to destabilize a tumor’s ability to grow in oxygen-starved conditions.
Rhoda Alani, M.D., identifies a gene expression pattern that could help pinpoint deadly melanoma skin cancers.
Alison Klein, Ph.D., develops PancPRO, a risk calculator for pancreatic cancer.
2009
For the 19th consecutive year, The Johns Hopkins Hospital earns U.S. News and World Report’s top spot in its annual rankings of America’s hospitals. The Kimmel Cancer Center ranks among the top three cancer centers in the nation.
G. Steven Bova, M.D., works from the autopsies of 33 men who died of prostate cancer, examining 150,000 slides and 30,000 blocks of tissue, and traces the origin of each person’s cancer to a single cell source.
Charles Rudin, M.D., Ph.D., finds that lung cancers in never-smokers have more mutations of the EGFR gene, making these patients candidates for therapies that block EGFR signaling.
The Kimmel Cancer Center’s Next Generation Sequencing Lab opens under the direction of Srinivasan Yegnasubramanian, M.D., Ph.D., and Sarah Wheelan, M.D., Ph.D., allowing researchers to see inside the cancer cell in ways never before possible, and speeding the pace of discovery.
Carol Greider, Ph.D., wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery of telomerase, an enzyme that restores telomeres, protective caps that protect the ends of chromosomes. The connection of telomeres and telomerase to cancer development is a major area of cancer research.