Community Cancer Center to be named for donor Helen Nassif

CEDAR RAPIDS - Maryland businesswoman Helen Nassif's name will grace another Cedar Rapids building, with a $1 million donation being announced today.

During a news conference this morning, leaders will reveal the new name of the Community Cancer Center.

“It is a very generous donation,” said Ted Townsend, CEO of St. Luke's Hospital, one of the collaborators in the center. “Health and education in Linn County are really what she's dedicated her legacy to.”

The Helen G. Nassif Community Cancer Center of Iowa will be located in the Physicians' Clinic of Iowa Medical Pavilion, under construction at 10th Street and Second Avenue SE.

Townsend said the donation will go toward building and equipping the 9,000-square-foot-facility within the PCI complex.

PCI spokeswoman Michelle Luty said the $47 million medical pavilion is on schedule to open in January 2013. Steel work is nearly complete, and the building should be enclosed by winter, she said.

More than 200 doctors, including those from PCI and St. Luke's, will see patients at the center.

The cancer center is being developed as Mercy Medical Center builds its own just a few blocks away. The new $24.6 million Hall-Perrine Cancer Center is scheduled to open in March 2012.

Nassif's prior gifts to the community, now totaling more than $7.4 million, include the Nassif Admissions House at Coe College; Michael G. Nassif Education and Cultural Center at St. George Orthodox Church; and the Helen G. Nassif YMCA.

At St. Luke's, $4.3 million in gifts have gone to the Nassif Heart Center, Helen G. Nassif Center for Women's and Children's Health, and the Helen G. Nassif Pavilion.

“It's certainly a boost to the collaborative efforts that we've been working on,” said Randy Easton, board chairman of the Community Cancer Center. “This is a nice recognition of that.”

Nassif is a former Cedar Rapids resident now living in Rockville, Md. She grew up in a house on B Avenue NE, not far from St. Luke's, and attended Coe College.

Nassif went to George Washington Law School in Washington and worked as a U.S. government lawyer for 32 years. She also has been actively involved in commercial real estate as a builder and developer.

Helen Nassif community gifts

• November 2011: $1 million to Helen G. Nassif Community Cancer Center of Iowa
• November 2006: $1.5 million for Helen G. Nassif Pavilion at St. Luke's Hospital
• August 2001: $1 million for Helen G. Nassif YMCA
• April 2001: $1.5 million for Helen G. Nassif Center for Women's & Children's Health at St. Luke's
• August 2000: $1.3 million for Nassif Heart Center at St. Luke's
• July 1998: $785,000 for Nassif Admissions House at Coe College
• December 1996: $400,000 to St. George Orthodox Church