Jack Bovender, vice chair of the Board of Trustees, and his wife Barbara Bovender will bequest $25 million to Duke, the University announced Wednesday.
The donation will be shared among three schools—the Fuqua School of Business, the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Nursing. The Nursing School will receive $5 million, and Fuqua’s Health Sector Management program and Trinity will each receive $10 million.
Bovender, former chairman and CEO of Hospital Corporation of America and Health Administration ’69, said the donation represents his connection to and admiration for the University.
“Duke is so important to [my family],” he said. “It made all the difference in my life professionally and shaped the way I think about life. It’s important for me to recognize that... It’s a magnificent gift.”
Bovender said he chose to give back to Trinity because undergraduate education is the core of a university. He added that he came to Duke on an W. N. Reynolds Scholarship, an academic and need-based gift, and he is now paying that gift forward.
“You can’t directly pay the people who provided that experience to you to you back,” he said. “The way you say ‘thank you’ is to do that for people in the future.”
After graduating from Trinity with a degree in psychology, Bovender received a master’s in hospital administration. That degree has since turned into Fuqua’s Health Sector Management program, which offers a certificate to MBA students. Bovender’s career has centered around hospital administration, and said his gift reflects the impact his education has had on his life.
Bovender’s son, Richard, graduated from the program in 2008.
He noted that everything he has learned about hospitals, he has learned from listening to nurses. When he married his wife, she was working as head nurse at Duke Hospital. Additionally, Bovender’s mother, brother and daughter in law are also registered nurses. The $5 million gift will be made in honor of his wife.
“Nurses are increasingly important role in the provision of health services, and so it’s important that the school be supported,” he said.
Bovender said Duke has been the most important component of his estate planning. In addition to contributing to the Duke Annual Fund each year, he and his family decided to make a significant financial commitment to the University.
“I’ll be gone when the money is used for things, but I am confident that the University will use it in the right ways,” he said. “I note with great admiration the way the programs are run.”
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