About Robert H. Lurie

The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University was first established in 1974. In 1991, the center was dedicated through a gift of endowment from Ann and Robert H. Lurie. The full name was adopted in 1997, when the Cancer Center was awarded the National Cancer Institute’s highly competitive "comprehensive" designation for its dedication to the highest standards of cancer research, patient care, education and community outreach.

At age 46, Bob Lurie was happy and busy with a wonderful family and career. He was raising six young children with his wife, Ann, and running a successful investment firm in Chicago with his business partner, Sam Zell. Much changed when he was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer in 1987, but throughout his treatment at Northwestern’s Cancer Center, he never stopped thinking about others.

Even as the end of his life was imminent, Bob considered those who would come after him. Ann and Bob Lurie decided to endow the cancer center, providing the resources needed to invest in faculty, research, and in educating the next generation of scientists and clinicians to provide the best care to patients and their families.

Bob died on June 20, 1990, but his legacy lives on in the hearts and minds of those who knew him. His family continues to support the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, and hope that someday we will triumph over this disease.

“In the last 30 years, we have been able to translate research discoveries to clinics in Chicago and across the world and build programs supporting patients across the full spectrum of care from prevention and detection to life after cancer,” said Leonidas Platanias, MD, PhD, director of the Lurie Cancer Center. “Today we can fight every case of cancer with an innovative arsenal of weapons, and this is thanks in large part to the Luries’ compassionate and forward-thinking philanthropy.”

Ann Lurie, a visionary philanthropist who transformed the lives of countless people, died on June 24, 2024, at the age of 79. The depth and breadth of Lurie Cancer Center’s high-impact research and cancer treatment are part of her own extraordinary legacy. "Because of her advocacy and generosity many lives have been saved from cancer and the impact will be felt for years to come,” Dr. Platanias said.