When Phillip and Peggy DeZwirek decided to donate $1.2 million to Mount Sinai Hospital, their generosity went well beyond the monetary value of their gift. After considering an array of options for which their gift could be designated, the DeZwireks chose to support Mount Sinai’s highest priorities.

“We looked at a number of alternatives, but in the end we figured that the Hospital itself would know best where the money was needed,” said Mr. DeZwirek.

Indeed, Mount Sinai’s highest priorities are just that: representing the urgent need to continuously update technology and equipment and attract the very best medical and research talent. Transformational gifts like the DeZwireks’ help the Hospital to maintain its exceptional standards of excellence and its preparedness to meet the challenges of public health crises like SARS.

These standards, along with the superb care they have received as patients of the Hospital, inspired the DeZwireks’ support. “Mount Sinai was the leading authority in Ontario during SARS,” said Mr. DeZwirek, a private investor. He and his wife, a retired investment banker, describe their gift as “a long-term investment for our community, for our children and our grandchildren.”

The couple feel strongly that their investment was a wise choice. “Mount Sinai is an enormous resource for the community, not only for current medical and healthcare issues, but as a scientific research facility,” says Mr. DeZwirek. “We’ve received e-mails detailing the great medical breakthroughs made recently.”

A plaque on the Hospital’s 4th floor, dedicating the space as the “Phillip and Peggy DeZwirek Family Mezzanine”, quietly signals the couple’s generous contribution.

“It is money well spent,” says Mr. DeZwirek. “Whatever you give is money well given and well utilized by the hospital. There are great returns on whatever you invest in Mount Sinai.”