St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, Canada, has announced a C$10 million ($7.2 million) bequest from the estate of Miriam Bergen.

Half the gift will support the hospital’s new emergency department, while the other half will bolster the cardiac sciences program. Bergen, who died in January 2022, was the owner and president of Appleton Holdings and followed a family legacy of philanthropy—her parents made a $3 million gift to the hospital to create the Bergen Cardiac Care Centre at St. Boniface Hospital in 2006.

“Miriam would say, ‘I was raised in a family where it was important to give back to the community. I am happy to continue what my parents demonstrated to me all my life,’” said Doris Gietz, Bergen’s younger cousin. “She would say, ‘This is just what we Bergens do.’”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Jacob Wackerhausen)