Fred Meijer helped build the Medical Mile | News

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) - The Fred and Lena Meijer Heart Center which opened in 2005 now includes the Frederick Meijer Heart and Vascular Institute.  It has become a landmark on the Medical Mile. For Fred Meijer creating that medical building was personal.

"Fred had some heart surgery and so I think that's why we spent a lot of time talking about how he could help us and how he could help us in his fight for heart disease," says Spectrum Health President Richard Breon.

But Breon says Fred Meijer's contributions didn't stop there, "He also looked at cancer. He was the lead gift in the Lemmen-Holton Cancer Pavilion. He was one of the lead gifts in the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. So he really was someone who was interested in health care on a broad array."

Fred Meijer also gave money to Saint Mary's Lacks Cancer Center for their fifth floor garden and conservatory. "We have had a really wonderful relationship with Fred Meijer and really the entire family," says Saint Mary's Foundation Director Michelle Rabideau.

But what you may not know is that when asked by his long-time friend Ralph Hauenstein to help create a place for Parkinson's research and other neurological diseases, Fred Meijer generously gave again.

"Ralph Hauenstein is a very good friend of Fred Meijer and both of them are very supportive of what they are both working in the community. And it was Ralph that said you know I would really like to have Fred Meijer and his family involved in this project. I'd like to go talk to him," says Rabideau.

She remembers how generous Fred Meijer was during a tour of the building generously speaking with every patient that wanted to say hello. "The ladies come quickly over introduce themselves, they had about a five minute conversation and Fred really got to hear first hand how his gift got to make such a difference in their lives and they thanked him."

Fred Meijer was a man who valued family, and community, because he believed both created a foundation for a healthy future.