Pfizer pledges $1 million to Centennial Campaign
Dec. 10, 2003
KALAMAZOO--Pfizer Inc announced today that the company will donate $1 million to the Centennial Campaign for Western Michigan University.
"Pfizer's generous gift to our Centennial Campaign is another indication of the growing partnership between Western Michigan University and Pfizer," said WMU President Judith I. Bailey. "I am convinced that this multifaceted partnership, as well as other important public-private collaborations in the life sciences, is absolutely critical to the future prosperity of our state."
Pfizer also announced a $1 million gift to the current capital campaign of neighboring Kalamazoo College, a nationally regarded private liberal arts school.
"Pfizer strongly believes in community partnerships where we can best make a difference," said Chuck Hardwick, Pfizer senior vice president for Worldwide Government and Public Affairs. "Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College invited Pfizer to be a part of their educational plans for the future. Their objectives fit closely with our global focus of improving education, innovation and quality of life. The two institutions complement each other, the community and Pfizer."
Hardwick also noted that the company's support of the two schools includes recent donations of laboratory equipment and supplies. Pfizer was recently described by Business Week as one of the leading corporations in America in terms of in-kind donations.
WMU's Centennial Campaign has raised $145 million, as of Nov. 30. This past May, campaign Chair William U. Parfet announced that the total of gifts and commitments to the campaign had surpassed the original goal of $125 million, and that the campaign would continue through the end of 2003, as originally planned.
Pfizer Inc, which includes facilities of the former Upjohn Co. and Pharmacia, develops, manufactures, and markets leading prescription medicines for humans and animals, and many of the world's best-known consumer products. The company's Michigan locations are in Ann Arbor, Holland and Kalamazoo, where Pfizer is the county's largest employer.
Media contact: Thom Myers, 269 387-8400, thom.myers@wmich.edu