Billionaire Home Depot cofounder Bernie Marcus’ foundation donates nearly $30 million toward stem cell research for heart attacks
Yahoo • • health
Key Points:
- Bernie Marcus, cofounder of Home Depot and a former pharmacy student, passed away in November 2024 at age 95 with an estimated net worth of $11 billion.
- After being fired from a home improvement store in 1978, Marcus reinvented himself and cofounded Home Depot, which is now valued at $343 billion.
- The Marcus Foundation, established by Bernie and his wife Billi in 1989, has donated over $2.7 billion to various causes, with a strong focus on medical research, including stem cell therapies, cancer, autism, and cardiovascular disease.
- Recently, the foundation donated $28.7 million to USC's Stem Cell Center to advance clinical trials for regenerative heart attack treatments, marking its largest gift to USC and one of its biggest to academic medicine.
- Marcus's philanthropy is characterized by a disciplined, focused approach, supporting initiatives such as Autism Speaks, the Marcus Stroke and Neuroscience Center, and the Marcus Institute for Brain Health.
