Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has received a $100 million gift from a local manufacturing magnate to expand its surgery department. It’s the third nine-figure donation to the Beverly Grove hospital in the last two years.
The gift is from philanthropists James and Eleanor Randall and the Randall Family Foundation. The money will be used to expand Cedars-Sinai’s existing surgery department and train future generations of surgical specialists. As a result of the gift, the surgery department has been renamed the James and Eleanor Randall Department of Surgery.
James Randall made his initial fortune through Allfast Fastening Systems, a rivet and fastener manufacturer in the City of Industry which he purchased in 1968. He turned Allfast into a major firm through a series of acquisitions and then sold the company to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based TriMas Corp. in 2014 for approximately $360 million. Randall also has developed industrial properties in the City of Industry and at sites in Idaho, Montana and Mexico.
Eleanor Randall is a painter who has received commissions from industrial and institutional clients; her murals are on display at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and at the USC School of Social Work, among other places.
The Randalls have been longtime supporters of Cedars-Sinai and have partnered on several campaigns and enterprises.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center performs more than 32,000 operations each year across all disciplines and has been recognized for its clinical expertise in gastroenterology, cancer, neurology, cardiology and pulmonary care. The medical center is also known for transplant and reconstructive surgeries.
“This amazing gift from the Randall family reinforces Cedars-Sinai’s position as a leader in academic medicine,” Thomas Priselac, chief executive of Cedars-Sinai Health System, said in the announcement.
“It also ensures we remain at the forefront in training future generations of surgical specialists,” Priselac added. “The Randalls’ visionary investment builds on this institution’s quest to pioneer new surgical methods and technology that will save lives.”
The gift also establishes the Jim and Eleanor Randall Chair in Surgery in honor of renowned Cedars-Sinai surgeon Edward Phillips, who has pioneered techniques for minimally-invasive surgical procedures. Phillips has also been named executive vice chair of the James and Eleanor Randall Department of Surgery.
“We are inspired by the dedication and trailblazing work of Dr. Ed Phillips, whose extraordinary commitment to excellence in patient care serves as an example to the medical world at large,” James Randall said in the announcement.
In 2022, Cedars-Sinai received its first $100 million gift, from the Shapell-Guerin Family Foundation and its president Vera Guerin, to create the Guerin Children’s pediatric health care facility. Last year, the medical center received its largest gift to date: $143 million from the estate of Susanne and Ervin Bard; that gift resulted in the naming of the Susanne and Ervin Bard Pavilion on the Cedars-Sinai campus.
