GALVESTON, Texas — The University of Texas Medical Branch is renaming its School of Medicine in honor of John Sealy.
The School of Medicine will now be known as the John Sealy School of Medicine in honor of the 19th century entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Sealy and the Sealy & Smith Foundation, which was established after his death, have been supporting UTMB since its inception.
Over the last 100 years, the foundation and family have donated more than $1 billion to the university, which is one of the largest cumulative contributions in history to an American institution.
"We are grateful for this incredible recognition from UTMB and the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System," said John Kelso, the foundation's president. "We are honored to contribute to UTMB's mission to improve health in Galveston and, in doing so, help the university expand its impact on the health of our region and well beyond."
The foundation's contributions to UTMB are visible throughout Galveston, most recently with two major hospitals.
Sealy & Smith donated $170 million towards constructing the state-of-the-art Jennie Sealy Hospital in 2010. Then in 2015, the foundation committed another $100 million for a major modernization of both the interior and exterior of the adjacent John Sealy Hospital.
The Sealy family's contribution to UTMB and Galveston date back to 1884, when John committed to building the first John Sealy Hospital.