Tulane School of Medicine receives $10 million from the Marshall family to fight cancer

A combined $10 million gift from the Marshall Heritage Foundation and the Marshall Legacy Foundation will help transform Tulane University’s fight against cancer by creating a faculty chair, a dedicated research fund and state-of-the-art laboratories at the School of Medicine.

The gift, prompted by Board of Tulane member and alumnus E. Pierce Marshall Jr., honors the memory of Marshall’s father, E. Pierce Marshall, who died in 2006 of complications from leukemia at age 67.

“Tulane was founded in 1834 as a medical school focused on combating yellow fever in the New Orleans region. This gift will exponentially enhance Tulane’s efforts against one of the most devastating scourges of modern times – cancer. We could not be more grateful to Pierce and his family for this extraordinary investment in Tulane’s School of Medicine through a gift that is a moving and consequential tribute to his father,” said Tulane University President Michael A. Fitts

The donation also helps advance Tulane’s plans to make its downtown campus a regional hub for biotechnological innovation and bolsters the university’s pursuit of a prestigious National Cancer Institute designation for the New Orleans metro area in partnership with LCMC Health, the Louisiana Cancer Research Center and LSU Health New Orleans.

“Of all the gifts our family has made to Tulane, this one is the most meaningful,” said Marshall, the president and chief executive officer of Élevage Capital Management, a Dallas investment firm. “My father passed away prematurely from leukemia. By making this investment in Tulane School of Medicine, my family hopes to make a substantial difference in the fight against cancer. I look forward to seeing Tulane’s doctors and scientists make incredible breakthroughs in the years ahead.”

The gift will: 

• Dedicate $3 million to establish the E. Pierce Marshall Memorial Chair, an endowed faculty position whose holder will focus on cancer research.

• Provide $2 million to create the E. Pierce Marshall Memorial Research Endowed Fund, which will specifically support cancer research.

• Commit $5 million to finance the renovation of the seventh floor of the School of Medicine’s Hutchinson Memorial Building, including the construction of a suite of laboratories for cancer research to be named the E. Pierce Marshall Memorial Laboratories.

“This tremendous gift is a boon for the advancement of oncological science at our medical school,” said Dr. Lee Hamm, senior vice president and dean of the School of Medicine. “It gives Tulane the ability to hire a brilliant mind in cancer research and provides us with both the ample resources and the top-notch facilities to unlock the mysteries behind this disease and develop medical solutions. I thank Pierce and his family for their exceptional generosity.”

Marshall graduated from Tulane’s A. B. Freeman School of Business with a bachelor’s degree in management in 1990. In addition to his role on the Board of Tulane, the university’s main governing body, he serves on the Business School Council and the Executive Campaign Council for the Always the Audacious fundraising campaign. He lives in Dallas with his wife, Kristen, and their son.

The Marshall family’s anchor gift in 2014 created the Marshall Family Commons inside the expanded Goldring/Woldenberg Business Complex on Tulane’s uptown campus. Pierce Marshall has been a recurring judge for the annual Tulane Business Model Competition and has philanthropically supported its operations. He is a member of the Olive and Blue Society of top donors to Tulane Athletics and was inducted into the Paul Tulane Society, which honors individuals and organizations who have given $1 million or more to the university.