Sylvester Foundation

Harcourt Sylvester Jr. of Boca Raton, Florida, established the Harcourt M. and Virginia W. Sylvester Foundation in 1980 following the death of Harcourt Sr. from lung cancer. The foundation became fully funded in 1984 following Virginia’s death from heart disease. The funding for the foundation came from the sale of the family business, FASCO Industries, Inc., which made electric motors for fans and automobiles.
After his father's death, Harcourt Jr. started to consider the opportunity to fund a cancer center. He recalled his father saying, "had there been better screening they would have caught the cancer earlier." Mr. Sylvester chose the University of Miami as his beneficiary because of its reputation as a premier medical center, and because here he could watch his dream unfold.

Under Harcourt Jr.’s leadership, the Foundation committed $27.5 million in 1986 to the University of Miami to create the only university-based cancer center in South Florida Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center where cancer research, teaching, screening, and treatment would be centralized at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center. It was the largest contribution in the history of the University of Miami at that time. In 1988, the foundation added another $5 million to their original gift. And more recently, the Sylvester family pledged an additional $11.5 million to Sylvester’s capital campaign.  Altogether, the Sylvester Foundation has contributed or pledged more than $50 million to fund programs at the Miller School of Medicine.
Harcourt Sylvester Jr., whose generosity and drive founded Sylvester, died in August 2007. He was 80.

Three generations of the Sylvester family now carry on Harcourt’s ambitions. Jayne Sylvester Malfitano serves on the Sylvester Board of Governors and on the University of Miami Board of Trustees, and she and her sister Laura Sylvester Cameron serve as directors of the family’s Foundation. The family tradition continues with one of Sylvester’s grandchildren -- a member of Young Philanthropists for Sylvester.