The University of Rochester Medical Center in upstate New York has announced a $20 million gift from Paychex founder and chairman B. Thomas Golisano to support construction of a new $134 million children's hospital.

The gift will enable the university to consolidate under one roof units throughout URMC that care for children. Financed by a mix of private donations, operating equity, and external debt, the 200,000 square-foot facility will include a sixty-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), pediatric imaging, and fifty-six private pediatric rooms that are a third larger than current private rooms. The design of the new facility also will allow the hospital, which was named after Golisano in 2002, to group patients by disease or injury, spurring more opportunity to train nurses and other staff members to become expert in treating common ailments such as asthma.

With the latest gift, Golisano has personally contributed $34 million to the children's hospital, making him the University of Rochester's largest living donor. In addition, the B. Thomas Golisano Foundation has donated $1.6 million to establish the Institute for Innovative Transition at the university's Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities.

"A new facility is necessary to keep pace with medical and technological advancements and meet the modern standards of a children's hospital," said Golisano. "I am pleased to provide this gift to help construct a new, next-generation hospital to provide the highest quality care to children throughout the region."