$70-Million Pledge to Stanford a Record

David Packard, co-founder and chairman of the giant electronics firm of Hewlett-Packard Co., and his wife pledged $70 million Tuesday to finance construction of a new children’s medical center at Stanford University.

The gift is the largest commitment from a private donor in Stanford’s history, said University President Donald Kennedy, who said it includes a previous Packard pledge of $20 million.

William R. Hewlett, the corporation’s other co-founder and like Packard a Stanford alumnus, pledged $50 million on April 3 to the university’s centennial campaign. Hewlett earmarked $40 million for renewal of research facilities and $10 million to match funds during the centennial campaign.

Packard’s wife, Lucile, also a Stanford graduate, has been active in the Children’s Hospital at Stanford for many years and now is chairman of its board. She is also vice chairman of the new board planning the project.

The pledge includes $40 million toward the new hospital, $22 million toward a separate Stanford University hospital modernization project and $8 million to modernize pediatric academic space at the School of Medicine.

“The gift will enable the university to embark on a partnership with the Children’s Hospital at Stanford in establishing one of the foremost comprehensive centers for pediatric care, research, and training in the country,” Kennedy said. “It’s in pediatrics that medicine faces its most exciting challenges.”

Hewlett, 72, and Packard, 73, met as Stanford undergraduates and in 1939 founded their company in a Palo Alto garage. The company now employs about 82,000 people, and both men still own sizable stakes in it. Forbes magazine has estimated Packard’s net worth at more than $1.5 billion and Hewlett’s at more than $780 million.

Packard in 1984 gave $40 million to build the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the world’s largest.