Newswise — Neptune, NJ – December 19, 2014 – Jersey Shore University Medical Center recently received a $300,000 gift from the trust of the late Howard Corlies (1883-1958), of Spring Lake, New Jersey, in support of the hospital. The gift honors the memory of Mr. Corlies, a prominent Monmouth County resident who faithfully served the hospital and its mission to provide the best health care experience for the Jersey Shore community.
Steven G. Littleson, FACHE, President, Jersey Shore University Medical Center, remarks “Howard Corlies played an incredibly important role in the evolution of what is today known as Jersey Shore University Medical Center. The hospital’s location on Corlies Avenue reminds us every day of the significance of the historic Corlies family name, and Howard Corlies’ generous gift reflects just how much he cared for the health and future of our community.”
Throughout his lifetime, Mr. Corlies was an active volunteer leader and donor to the Raleigh Fitkin-Paul Morgan Memorial Hospital in Neptune, New Jersey (subsequently named Jersey Shore University Medical Center), serving as both the President of Board of Governors and Chairman of the Executive Committee. He made substantial gifts to support the growth of the hospital, and encouraged others to do so as well. During Mr. Corlies’ board tenure, the Board of Governors initiated a fundraising campaign in 1941 supporting an extension of the Dr. James F. Ackerman Pavilion. Local media reports and hospital records from 1933 through 1941 attest to Jersey Shore’s record-breaking patient admissions; a sharp rise in births and pediatric health care demands; surgical, laboratory and radiology advances; and a general increase in the health care needs of the community. In an effort to drum up local campaign donations, in 1941 Mr. Corlies wrote:
Why Do We Come to You of Monmouth County at This Time?
- Because the Fitkin Memorial Hospital [Jersey Shore University Medical Center] needs your generous help to enable it to better meet your needs and its obligations. - To give care and healing to those for whom poverty and illness walk hand in hand.- To make certain that the sick and injured shall have the benefits of continually improving medical science and up-to-date institutional care without regard to race, creed, color or ability to pay.- To serve properly the continually larger number of those whose foresight in becoming members of non-profit hospitalization insurance plans has lessened their individual cares and anxieties incident to illness and injury.- To make possible even higher and better standards of treatment and equipment.
That is why we come to you at this time and appeal to your generosity and public spirit.
The successful campaign, conducted during the extraordinary challenges of the Great Depression (1929-mid 1940s) and World War II (US involvement 1941-1945), is a further testament to what can only be interpreted as Mr. Corlies and fellow board members’ perseverance and dedication to serving their community.
Mr. Corlies’ last tribute to Jersey Shore, facilitated through a family trust, was dedicated in the 1950s. As a provision in his will, Mr. Corlies, who died on September 14, 1958, provided for his two grandnephews and grandniece for the duration of their lives through a Testamentary Charitable Remainder Trust. When his last grandnephew Corlies Clayburgh died in 2014, the trust bequeathed $300,000 to Jersey Shore.
“To honor his legacy, Jersey Shore will dedicate the Administrative Suite, fittingly located in the hospital’s Ackerman Pavilion, to Howard Corlies,” says Mr. Littleson. “His portrait, which greets people every day on their way into Jersey Shore’s Administrative Suite–the wing he helped build–will be joined by a plaque commemorating his visionary approach towards philanthropy and leadership, while Mr. Corlies’ generous gift will continue to support the hospital and community he cherished.”
About Jersey Shore University Medical Center:Jersey Shore University Medical Center, a member of the Meridian Health family, is a not-for-profit teaching hospital and home to K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital – the first children’s hospital in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Jersey Shore is the regional provider of cardiac surgery, a program which has been ranked among the best in the Northeast, and is home to the only trauma center and stroke rescue center in the region. Through the hospital’s clinical research program, and its affiliation with Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Jersey Shore serves as an academic center dedicated to advancing medical knowledge, training future physicians and providing the community with access to promising medical breakthroughs. For more information about Jersey Shore University Medical Center call 1-800-DOCTORS, or visit www.JerseyShoreUniversityMedicalCenter.com.
RSS