Oregon Public Broadcasting

Phil Knight gave Oregon Health and Science University its largest-ever gift Wednesday – $100 million. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

When a reporter turns up to a press conference, they usually know something about the official announcement being made. But Wednesday, nobody was saying diddly-squat until Doctor Brian Druker made the announcement.

Brian Drucker: “I’m delighted and incredibly proud to announce that Phil and Penny Knight will make a gift of $100 million to the OHSU Cancer Institute.”

The standing ovation continued for almost a whole minute.

Sitting in the front row, the founder of Nike and his wife smiled and shook hands with people, but they didn’t make any remarks.

That was left to people like OHSU president, Joseph Robertson, who drew an analogy between the gift, and Eric Heiden the speed skater who won five gold medals at the 1980 Olympics.

Joseph Robertson: “And the thing about Eric Heiden was, whenever he skated, he always won, but the people who skated with Eric set what otherwise would have been Olympic or World Records, because they were skating with him. And I think that’s what’s going to happen here. Excellence isn’t just inspirational. It’s contagious.”

That quest for excellence was echoed by Druker after the announcement. He says the bulk of the money will be used to attract top researchers.

Brian Drucker: “We want those people working right here. Breaking down this complex disease, figuring it out, and bringing new treatments to people that live and work in our region as quickly as possible.”

But $2 million of the money has been held aside. It will help finish a new research laboratory, to be named the Linda Conant Lab. She was a close friend of the Knight family and died of cancer in January.

Allan Conant, her husband, says she fought the disease for 10 years.

Allan Conant: “It’s not unlike having Linda continue that fight, having her name on that lab, a research lab for cancer. It’ll be a real privilege for her to know that she’s picking up the fight and continuing on.”

The gift ranks among the largest to a medical school in the United States.  Only a handful of institutions have received donations of $100 million or more, including UCLA, Cornell Medical School, and Harvard. 

Phil Knight donated $100 million last year to the athletics department of his alma mater, the University of Oregon.