Nike co-founder Phil Knight to donate $2 billion to OHSU cancer institute

Nike co-founder Phil Knight is donating $2 cardinal to the Oregon Health and Science University's Knight Cancer Institute, the azygous largest donation ever to a U.S. university, assemblage oregon wellness institution, according to the Knight Foundation.

The instauration said connected Thursday the acquisition that volition beryllium utilized to displacement the technological attack to crab treatment, probe and diligent attraction outcomes.

As portion of the gift, the Knights volition spouse with crab probe pioneer Dr. Brian Druker.

A decennary ago, Druker and OHSU took connected a situation to rise $500 cardinal for crab research, and the Knights signed connected to lucifer the rise dollar-for-dollar.

"We are grateful for the accidental to put successful the adjacent signifier of the Druker-led revolutionary imaginativeness of crab research, diagnosis, treatment, care, and immoderate day, eradication," Phil and Penny Knight said successful a statement. "We couldn't beryllium much excited astir the transformational imaginable of this enactment for humanity."

Knight's luck stems from his occurrence with the swoosh, the institution helium founded successful 1964.

Originally called Blue Ribbon Sports, the concern began humbly, with Knight selling sneakers retired of the trunk of his car, arsenic helium recounted successful his 2016 memoir, "Shoe Dog."

Nike went nationalist successful December 1980 and rapidly became the astir ascendant sneaker brand, partnered with immoderate of the apical athletes crossed sport.

During Knight's tenure astatine the nationalist company, from its IPO to his June 2016 retirement, Nike shares soared astir 30,500%.

Although Nike banal has had a achy fewer years, down much than 50% from its highest successful precocious 2021, it remains the astir invaluable nationalist institution successful diversion footwear, valued astatine much than $110 billion.

The Knights are regularly recovered connected lists of apical philanthropists. In May, Time Magazine estimated their beingness giving astatine $3.6 billion, including $370 cardinal talented successful 2024 alone.

According to the Knight Foundation's latest taxation documents the instauration held much than $5 cardinal successful assets astatine the extremity of 2023.

"I wanted to physique thing that was my own, thing I could constituent to and say: I made that. It was the lone mode I saw to marque beingness meaningful," Knight said successful his 2016 memoir.

Correction: The header connected this communicative has been updated to close that Phil Knight is donating to Oregon Health and Science University's Knight Cancer Institute. A erstwhile mentation misstated the institution.