Hospice Buffalo received a generous gift today from the estate of a longtime pharmacist. The estate of William Bender has donated $2 million toward Hospice's 'Love the Dove' capital campaign. Bender was the owner and operator of Rozek's Pharmacy on Genesee Street in Buffalo. He was a veteran of World War II and a 1943 graduate of UB's School of Pharmacy. Bender died in May at the age of 92.
"It certainly is a wonderful surprise. We were absolutely thrilled to hear the news," says Patrick Flynn, president of the Hospice Foundation of Western New York.
Flynn says Bender understood the work of Hospice through his work as a pharmacist and through his wife Phyllis.
"What he witnessed over the years was many of his customers availing themselves of Hospice services. When it came time when his wife got ill back in 2001, he called upon Hospice Buffalo to provide services to her," Flynn told WBFO.
The Hospice campaign has, so far, raised $8.5 million of its $10 million goal. The money will be used to renovate the provider's main clinical building and inpatient unit in Cheektowaga.
