McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, has announced a C$100 million ($74 million) legacy gift from Charles and Margaret Juravinski to create an endowment in support of a health research center.

The gift will establish the Juravinski Research Centre and provide up to $5 million a year to McMaster University, Hamilton Health Sciences, and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton in support of research in the areas of cancer, mental health, lung and respiratory care, and diseases of aging. The partner institutions will collaborate on research projects focused on improving the health and prosperity of the entire community, with an eight-member steering committee establishing priorities for programs undertaken by the center.

The Juravinskis, who sold the Flamboro Downs racetrack in 2002, have donated more than $50 million in support of the three institutions, including gifts for the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre at Hamilton Health Sciences, the Margaret & Charles Juravinski Education, Research & Development Centre at McMaster University, and the Margaret & Charles Juravinski Centre for Integrated Healthcare and the Juravinski Innovation Tower at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.

“Charles and Margaret Juravinski’s transformational gifts have forever changed health care in Hamilton, and their legacy of giving will continue thanks to their investment in world-class research,” said St. Joseph’s Health System president and CEO Thomas Stewart. “By enabling collaborative research into mental health care, lung and respiratory health, oncology, and diseases of aging, the Juravinskis’ gift will impact not only patients and families in Hamilton, but countless others around the world for generations to come.”

“It brings us great pleasure to think that when we are gone, our legacy to this community may be measured in the good health of those who come after us,” the Juravinskis said in a letter. “As a couple, our most important lesson has been this: the greatest pleasure in life and the most powerful force for good in the world is sharing.”