Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens just put Johns Hopkins University in his will, promising $20 million from his estate to support vision-saving research.
Pickens, 85, has been treated for vision problems at Hopkins’ Wilmer Eye Institute.
“When I have a problem – and I do have an eye problem – I find the best, and that was Wilmer,” Pickens said.
Pickens father was legally blind by the time he was in his 80s.
The $20 million gift is included in Pickens’ estate and will create an endowment to fund a T. Boone Pickens Scholars program, supporting clinician-scientists with innovative ideas for new vision loss research.
Pickens had previously contributed $6 million to the Wilmer Eye Institute’s Smith Building, which opened in 2009.
