Remembering Eminent Philanthropist Ann Lurie
Lurie’s gifts transformed healthcare in Chicago, across the country, and around the world
Ann Lurie, well-known Chicago and global philanthropist whose name graces some of Chicago’s and the Midwest’s most vital academic, cultural, social service, and healthcare institutions, died in June. She was 79.
Her many generous gifts benefited Northwestern University, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, the University of Michigan, and numerous health and education projects globally. She was recognized as one of the nation’s leading philanthropists and known as a “hands-on person” who was actively engaged in the projects she supported.
Born and raised in Florida, the only child of a single mother, Lurie earned a nursing degree from the University of Florida. After graduation, she worked in public health before relocating to Chicago in 1973, where she worked as a pediatric intensive care nurse at Children’s Memorial Hospital.
Lurie was a Northwestern University life trustee who gave more than $60 million to the University over the years. Her connection with Northwestern began when her late husband, commercial real estate titan Robert H. Lurie, was undergoing treatment at the University’s cancer center.
In appreciation of the exceptional care Robert received, and driven by the belief in Northwestern’s future, the Luries went on to endow the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University as well as the state-of-the-art Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center, a 12-story building with lecture auditoriums and laboratories that accommodates more than 1,000 researchers, technicians, postdoctoral students, and lab assistants.
Ann Lurie was one of those truly remarkable philanthropists. She was extraordinarily generous, a great friend to the medical school and the academic medical center writ large.
Eric G. Neilson, MD
Lurie established two professorships (in breast cancer research and oncology) at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. In 2021, Eric G. Neilson, MD, vice president for Medical Affairs and Lewis Landsberg Dean at Feinberg, established the Ann Lurie Professorship in Oncology to honor her tremendous generosity to Lurie Cancer Center and patients with cancer and their families worldwide.
“Ann Lurie was one of those truly remarkable philanthropists,” Neilson said. “She was extraordinarily generous, a great friend to the medical school and the academic medical center writ large. Hardly a day went by when I didn’t come across something wonderful she had done for someone at some time.”
Lurie made a $100 million gift to help build the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago (formerly Children’s Memorial Hospital). It was the largest philanthropic commitment ever received in the hospital’s more than 125-year history. She also funded a professorship in cancer cell biology at the hospital.
“Words cannot adequately convey the sadness we share with Ann’s family and friends, the entire Lurie Children’s team, and the scores of those she touched across Chicago and far beyond,” said Tom Shanley, president and CEO of Lurie Children’s Hospital. “Her gift to Lurie Children’s, influenced by her own experience as a pediatric nurse, was transformative to the health and well-being of our region’s children. Lurie Children’s will be forever grateful that Ann provided us a legacy within which to provide the highest quality, most compassionate care.”
Globally, Lurie founded and served as president of Africa Infectious Disease Village Clinics, Inc. (AID Village Clinics), a registered US public charity focused on providing free quality medical care and public health services to rural communities in southeastern Kenya until its closing in late 2012. She was also involved in other health, education, and environmental initiatives in other countries in Africa as well as in China and Nepal.
Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015, Lurie was a recipient of the Grant Goodrich Achievement Award from the Northwestern Alumni Association for 2002, the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Award for Humanitarian Contributions to the Health of Humankind from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, and the Anti-Defamation League’s Lifetime of Achievement Award (2009).
Lurie was a former member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, where she funded The Lurie Prize, an annual $100,000 award that recognizes the outstanding achievements of a promising young biomedical investigator, and was the major supporter of Research America’s John Edward Porter Legacy Award.
Lurie is survived by her husband, Mark Muheim; her six children; 16 grandchildren; and Muheim’s two sons.
This story was originally published on June 24, 2024 in Northwestern Now.
