When hospital asked for $20 million, Ernest Rady gave $120 million

March 25, 2017 11 AM PT

Ernest Rady, 79, La Jolla

When the children’s hospital that bears his name asked Ernest Rady for $20 million to establish a center for pediatric genomic medicine, he gave an unexpected rely: He offered $120 million instead.

August 4, 2014, SAN DIEGO, CA | Ernest Rady, left, and his wife, Evelyn Rady, right, are all smiles during the announcement of their $120 million pledge Monday to Rady Childrens Hospital, to create the Rady Pediatric Genomics and System Medicine Institute at the hospital that already bears their family name. The Institute will be capable of sequencing and analyzing the genome of every incoming patient. |Photo by Howard Lipin/U-T San Diego/Mandatory Credit: HOWARD LIPIN/U-T SAN DIEGO/ZUMA PRESS | U-T San DIego photo by Howard Lipin copyright 2014

After representatives of Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego picked themselves up off the floor, they put the money to good use, establishing an institute for genomic medicine.

Under the leadership of Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, the institute tackles the very toughest of cases: infants and children with life-threatening diseases that can’t otherwise be diagnosed. In some cases, these patients have just days to live unless an effective treatment can be found.

For Rady, who made his fortune in finance, the stupendous gift to the 520-bed hospital was just a matter of logic. He knew of the increasingly powerful technology of genomics and how it might be used to find causes of disease that resisted other means of diagnosis.

And for Rady, already a major supporter of the hospital, the need to introduce genomics was self-evident.

“$20 (million) wouldn’t do anything,” Rady said. “You can’t have a great children’s hospital, to look after the children of our community, without a legitimate and significant research arm.”

Rady said he’s not quite sure how he came up with $120 million.

“Someone asked me that question, and the answer I gave was temporary insanity,” he said, chuckling.

Focus package: What prompts someone to give millions of dollars to a scientific cause?

It wasn’t the first gift Rady and his wife, Evelyn, made to the hospital. In 2006, they pledged $60 million to what was then named Children’s Hospital San Diego. In honor of the contribution, the hospital was renamed Rady Children’s Hospital.

“My wife of 57 years and I want to give to things where we can make a difference,” Rady said, explaining the couple’s criteria for giving. “We’re in a position to make a difference, so I don’t want to give a little bit here and a little bit there.”

Rady, a former board member of the hospital, said he’s pleased with how the donations have been spent. Rady has confidence in the organization’s leaders and thus doesn’t feel the need to look over their shoulders: “They’ve done better without me than with me there.”

For Rady, people come first.

“I just get involved with people whom I trust, and I’ve never been disappointed. ... If you trust the people, they’re going to do a great job. In the case of Rady Children’s, they’ve done more than I ever would have hoped for.”

Beyond his own involvement, Rady said he thinks the attention drawn to the hospital and other sources has spurred additional donations — not because of him directly, “but because the causes are so compelling.”

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