Saint Barnabas Medical Center has received a $100 million donation from the Cooperman Family Foundation and will rename the hospital Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center (CBMC) in honor of the family’s gift.The donation is the largest ever given to any hospital in New Jersey and will allow the medical center to continue its ongoing transformation into a world-class healthcare institution that provides the highest quality and most advanced care available anywhere in the New York metropolitan region.“The Cooperman family has helped us to become the renowned institution that we are today,” said Barry Ostrowsky, president of RWJBarnabas Health. “Today’s generous gift from Leon and Toby Cooperman is transformational and ensures that our medical center will continue to develop as a state-of-the art medical campus and a leader in protecting and supporting the health of the community.”Leon and Toby Cooperman, who lived and raised their family in Essex County, have an extensive history of philanthropy and previously donated more than 100 times to the medical center, including a $25 million gift in 2014 that provided the catalyst for a vast expansion of the hospital. In 2017, a $200 million, five-story, 241,000-square-foot medical building with 114 private rooms and a state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit was named the Cooperman Family Pavilion in their honor.“Leon and his family recognize that there is absolutely nothing that is more important to a community than quality healthcare,” said CBMC board chairman Bruce Schonbraun. “We know this historic gift and the naming of the Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center will be inspirational to others. This is a game-changer for us.”The Coopermans’ gift to Saint Barnabas is their largest donation to any institution and caps off a decade-long period of generosity that escalated in 2010 after the family took The Giving Pledge, a philanthropic initiative started by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates that encourages the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to donate a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.“I am at the point in my life where I want my gifts to have real impact, and I could think of no better way to do that than to make this investment in healthcare in the community that has given so much to our family,” said Leon Cooperman. “The pandemic has shown us that heroes are working in our hospitals every day, and I’m honored to help support their work.”He continued, “Hospitals like this one need and deserve ...
