Colorado State University Animal Cancer Center Receives $10 Million Donation

Colorado State University's Flint Animal Cancer Center received a $10 million donation from a family in Longmont.

The donation from the Hadley and Marion Stuart Foundation, led by siblings Nan and Brett Stuart, is the single largest contribution in the history of the animal cancer center, university officials said in a press release. The donation also will complete the funding of two endowed academic chairs.

The Stuart's donation continues the legacy of their father, Hadley, who is depicted in a sculpture at the center.

The university has a relationship spanning 30 years with the Stuarts. Since 1983, when Hadley first brought one of his golden retrievers to CSU for cancer care, the Stuart family has provided a total of about $22 million for the Animal Cancer Center's research and clinical treatment of naturally occurring canine cancers.

"This new gift reflects Hadley Stuart's legacy and the close 30-year relationship we have so greatly appreciated between the Stuart family and the CSU veterinary cancer program," Dr. Rodney Page, a medical oncologist and director of the Flint Animal Cancer Center, said in a statement. "This gift will truly sustain our work, and we cannot sufficiently express our gratitude to the Stuart family."

Dr. Stephen Withrow, founder of the center and an acclaimed surgical oncologist, calls the CSU Animal Cancer Center the "House that Hadley Built," a nod to the seminal support provided by the late Hadley Stuart and his family foundation.

The Stuart family has had four dogs treated at the Flit Animal Cancer Center for brachial neurofibrosarcoma, a malignant nerve sheath tumor off the spinal cord, and hemangiosarcoma, an aggressive tumor of the blood vessels.

"The best cancer work," Nan said, "is right here."

The $10 million donation will add to endowments for the Stephen J. Withrow Presidential Chair in Oncology, which is held by Page, and the Stuart Chair in Oncology, which is held by Withrow. Academic chairs are mechanisms for funding the research laboratories and emerging discovery efforts of eminent faculty members.