The VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation in Vancouver, British Columbia, has announced a bequest of C$18.4 million ($13.7 million) from the estate of Leon Judah Blackmore.

To be disbursed over six years and four priority areas, the gift includes C$6 million ($4.45 million) for a new hybrid operating room, C$5 million ($3.7 million) for the Men's Health Initiative, and C$5 million ($3.7 million) for the launch of a Cardiac Diagnostic Clinic at Vancouver General Hospital; C$2.2 million ($1.6 million) for the renovation of the Sleep Disorders Clinic at UBC Hospital; and C$200,000 ($148,000) in support of cardiology research. In recognition of the gift, the Centennial Pavilion at VGH has been renamed the Leon Judah Blackmore Pavilion.

Blackmore, a local real estate developer who died in 2015 at the age of 81, had been forced to flee his native Poland as a child to escape persecution by the Nazis. According to the foundation, the suffering of the Jewish people throughout history, especially during the Holocaust, was central to Blackmore's approach to community, and the amount of his gift — in Hebrew, eighteen is the numerical value of the word chai, or "life" — symbolizes his enormous appreciation for life.

"In this way, Leon gave 'the gift of life' to VCH and the people of British Columbia who need our services," said VGH cardiologist Jaap Hamburger.

"This gift, which is one of the largest our foundation has ever received, has a huge impact on these four priorities," said Barbara Grantham, president and CEO of the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation. "[It will] advance an area of health that will benefit all British Columbians."