ALBANY MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION

 

Albany Med Board Member Pledges $1 Million Gift

Matthew Bender IV, longtime Albany Medical Center board member and volunteer, has committed $1 million to the institution to support Albany Medical College. The gift will be used to further support the Bender Endowed Chair in Neurology and the Bender Family Minority Scholarship. This is Bender’s second million dollar gift to the Medical Center in less than a decade.

Bender Family Minority Student Endowed Scholarship benefactor Matthew Bender IV (second from right) stands with 2008-2009 scholarship recipients Hector Aguilar '09, Ruth Morgan '10, Daniella Teape '09, and Sherlene Trotman '09.

“Matt is an extraordinary man, who has done extraordinary things for Albany Medical Center and our region,” said James J. Barba, president and chief executive officer of Albany Medical Center. “His financial generosity to our Medical Center can only be matched by his perseverance and leadership, which has been very influential in paving the path for success for Albany Med. It comes as little surprise that Matt has chosen once again to strengthen our endowment and provide a tremendous benefit to our physicians, staff, patients and students—the very core of this institution.”

In 2000, Bender committed $1 million to establish The Bender Endowed Chair in Neurology. The endowment enables the standing chairperson to delegate funding for research initiatives, equipment purchases, and educational outreach to further strengthen the Department of Neurology. Currently, this distinction is held by Michael Gruenthal, M.D., Ph.D., professor and Bender Chair in Neurology in the department of neurology, and co-director of the Neurosciences Institute.

In 1986, the Bender Family Minority Scholarship was established to provide financial assistance to minority students and encourage diversity at the Medical College. During the 2008/09 academic year, eight medical students received financial assistance from the scholarship fund and since its establishment, 157 scholarships totaling $525,000 have been distributed to 65 medical students.

Bender is the great-grandson of the founder of Matthew Bender & Company—one of the nation’s largest legal publishing firms with over 1,500 employees. The Bender family sold the company to the Times-Mirror Co. in 1963 and in 1969, Bender became vice president of Clark Boardman Co.—a New York City based law book publisher.

Bender immersed himself in philanthropic efforts supporting a number of educational, cultural, and historical organizations in the Capital District—and several New York State land and historic preservation organizations—with the establishment of the Bender Family Foundation in 1997. He and his wife, Phoebe, have generously supported a number of area non-profit organizations, including Albany Medical Center, The Aloha Foundation, Albany Institute of History and Art, and the Albany Academy.

In 2003, Bender was recognized by Albany Medical Center for his ongoing commitment with the Individual Philanthropist award under the Foundation’s Partners in Leadership program.

Bender has spent nearly 40 years championing the critical missions of Albany Medical Center in several different capacities. He first accepted a seat on the Medical College Board of Trustees in 1971, eventually serving as board chairman. He served as chair of the committee which led the successful consolidation of Albany Hospital and Albany Medical College to create Albany Medical Center as an entity in 1982, and served as a member of the Albany Medical Center Foundation Board of Directors from 1998 through 2001. Bender was also a member of the executive committee for the Pillars Campaign, which ran from 2000 to 2004.