Home Depot cofounder’s foundation donates $30 million after narrowing focus
The Marcus Foundation has donated $28.7 million to the University of Southern California to support clinical trials for stem-cell-based heart attack therapies. This grant reflects the foundation's narrowed focus on medical research following the death of Home Depot cofounder Bernie Marcus.
Why it matters
Significant private funding for regenerative medicine accelerates the development of gene-edited cellular therapies that could transform cardiac care.
The Marcus Foundation, established by Home Depot cofounder Bernie Marcus and his wife, Billi, has donated nearly $30 million to support stem-cell research at the University of Southern California (USC). The $28.7 million grant will support clinical trials of stem-cell-based therapies aimed at regenerating damaged tissue after a heart attack. Marcus, who died in November 2024 at the age of 95, had long focused his foundation's giving on medical research. Explaining the foundation's approach to philanthropy in 2012, Marcus told Philanthropy Roundtable: “We decided to narrow the field to those things that I was really, truly interested in,” describing the decision as a move away from what he called a “buckshot approach.”Marcus Foundation gives $28.7 million to USC stem-cell researchThe latest donation will go to Dr Chuck Murry, director of the USC Stem Cell Center, to advance clinical trials involving gene-edited cellular therapies.
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