Medical center receives $40 million gift

The Columbia University Medical Center announced today that Herbert and Florence Irving, already two of CUMC's top donors, have made a $40 million donation toward cancer research. The money will go to the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, which Herbert Irving first established with a $10 million gift back in 1997.

The cancer center will use the funds to "recruit and retain new cancer investigators and to support its current investigators, as well as for Cancer Center operations," according to CUMC. The Irvings have now given almost $200 million to CUMC and the Columbia-affiliated New York Presbyterian Hospital.

CUMC expects to raise more than $200 million during the current fiscal year, and it has already raised $1.8 billion in a capital campaign originally intended to raise $1 billion.

Pages