Nike co-founder Phil Knight and wife pledge record $2B to Oregon cancer
center, university says
[August 15, 2025]
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife
Penny Knight have pledged to donate $2 billion to Oregon Health &
Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute, the school announced
Thursday, describing it as the largest single gift to a U.S. university.
“This gift is an unprecedented investment in the millions of lives
burdened with cancer, especially patients and families here in Oregon,”
OHSU President Shereef Elnahal said in a statement.
The donation will help ensure patients have access to various resources,
including psychological, genetic and financial counseling, symptom
management, nutritional support and survivorship care, the university
statement said.
“We couldn’t be more excited about the transformational potential of
this work for humanity,” the Knights said in the statement.
The university described it as the “largest single donation ever made to
a U.S. university, college or academic health center.” It surpasses the
$1.8 billion given by Michael Bloomberg to Johns Hopkins in 2018,
described by that university at the time as the largest single
contribution to a U.S. university.
Bloomberg also donated an additional $1 billion to Johns Hopkins last
year, covering tuition, living expenses and fees for students from
families under certain income levels.
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In this Sept. 26, 2015, file photo, Nike co-founder Phil Knight
watches from the sidelines during the second half of an NCAA college
football game between Oregon and Utah in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Ryan
Kang, File)
 The magnitude of the donation will
allow the Knight Cancer Institute to become a self-governed entity
with its own board of directors within OHSU, the university said.
Knight is Oregon’s richest man. In 2013, he and his wife pledged
$500 million to the cancer institute if the university matched it
within two years. The match was met following $200 million in bonds
from the Oregon Legislature, $100 million from then-chair of
Columbia Sportswear Gert Boyle and donations from some 10,000
people, the university said.
Universities across the country are struggling with moves from
President Donald Trump's administration to cancel or freeze research
grants at universities.
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