Vice President Dick Cheney will show his appreciation for 23 years of heart treatment by donating $3.12 million to the GW Medical Faculty Associates to create the Richard B. Cheney Cardiovascular Institute, Cheney’s press secretary said.
The institute will advance education, research and clinical care of cardiovascular diseases, MFA media specialist David Garofalo said.
Cheney has been treated at the GW Hospital since 1978, and GW treated him twice this school year, in November and March. If he requires cardiac treatment again, he could conceivably be a patient of the new institute, Garofalo said.
“He has been very happy with the medical care (at GW),” said Juleanna Glover Weiss, Cheney’s press secretary. “He is grateful for their assistance in his coronary artery disease.”
The institute, housed in the MFA building at 2150 Pennsylvania Ave., will focus on new techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of heart diseases.
The MFA became tax-exempt recently, allowing it to accept donations, Garofalo said. The tax exemption has presented the MFA with the first opportunity to establish an institution such as Cheney’s, he said.
The MFA is one of three organizations that will receive 40 percent of the money from Cheney’s $7.8 million profit in stock options, mostly from Halliburton Co., the Dallas oil-services firm Cheney served as CEO for until he resigned Aug. 16, according to a White House press release.
“It is a very gracious contribution,” Garofalo said. “Everyone is excited about research and giving patients the best possible care.”
The University of Wyoming, Cheney’s alma mater and the flagship university of his home state, will receive another 40 percent of the profits. Capital Partners for Education, which provides educational assistance to low-income high school children in the D.C. area will receive 20 percent, according to The Washington Post. Cheney also donated $41,600 of his $800,000 in taxable income to charities, according his 2000 income tax statements released April 13.
The donation amounts are still pending because Cheney has not sold his stocks yet, Weiss said. The total amounts depend on the stock value when they are sold, she said.
Other recent contributions to GW include CNN talk show host Larry King’s $1 million gift last year for scholarships for School of Media and Public Affairs students from disadvantaged backgrounds. GW alumnus Jack Morton donated $1 million in January to establish the Media and Pubic Affairs building auditorium and GW alumnus Barton Kogan gave $500,000 to build Kogan Plaza.
