Mission Magazine - FROST BANK: Spirit of Giving

FROST BANK: Spirit of Giving

August 2006

Pat Frost, president of Frost Bank

Caring for Texans and service to the community is what Frost Bank is all about. By the time the Health Science Center opened its doors to its first medical students in 1968, Frost Bank had been a mainstay in Texas for 100 years and was a major financial force in the economic growth of San Antonio and Texas. Frost Bank also became a champion of San Antonio’s medical community in its earliest years. In fact, Tom Frost led the committee to raise funds for the South Texas Medical Center’s first hospital, and helped convince the county judge at the time, Blair "Bruzzie" Reeves, to vote to establish a property taxing district to provide ongoing funding.

So when a recent opportunity to help build on the city’s $14 billion-a-year biosciences industry arose, Frost Bank was ready to assist. Frost Bank, a subsidiary of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc., is directing $500,000 to support the research enterprise at the Health Science Center.

"We have a long-standing commitment to help the communities we serve in ways that are meaningful and sustaining," said Pat Frost, president of Frost Bank and son of Tom Frost. "That’s why this donation is so important to us. The work accomplished at the Health Science Center helps progress groundbreaking research and trains new doctors, nurses and dentists and other health care professionals who provide vital health services to our citizens. We are very proud to be a part of something that is making San Antonio healthy and strong."

Half of the funding, $250,000, is a grant from the Frost Foundation to the President’s Excellence Fund Endowment, a fund that will be used to recruit and retain star scientists in many fields, including studies of aging, cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, to name a few. The Frost Foundation funding will allow the Health Science Center to establish a distinguished professorship in one of these important areas.

The second half of the funding is a $250,000 grant from the Mary A. Peterson Wyatt Charitable Trust, for which Frost Bank is the trustee. The grant will support construction of the South Texas Research Facility, a $150 million research facility that will provide 250,000 square feet of new state-of-the-art laboratories. In this building, scientists will engage in translational research to rapidly move discoveries from the bench to the bedside. Health Science Center president Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., said the South Texas Research Facility will help address the Health Science Center’s growing space deficit.

"Frost Bank’s motto is ‘We’re from here,’ and that is certainly the type of close community partner Frost Bank is for San Antonio, our state and the Health Science Center," Dr. Cigarroa said. "We greatly appreciate this level of commitment by an outstanding corporate partner and friend. This funding will have a significant impact through research that promises to improve the health of South Texans for decades to come."

Melissa Adams, senior vice president of Frost Bank, said she is excited to be a part of the Health Science Center’s growth.

"During our 138-year history, Frost Bank has been involved in virtually every significant project that raises the bar and moves San Antonio forward. We are thrilled to be a part of making Dr. Cigarroa’s vision of taking the Health Science Center to the next level a reality, because when the Health Science Center succeeds, we succeed and all Texans succeed."

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UT Health Science Center
7703 Floyd Curl Dr.
San Antonio, Texas
78229-3900

Updated 5/17/12

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