Historic donation, the largest in the network's history and the largest of its kind in New Jersey healthcare, will expand Jersey Shore University Medical Center — and honor the late John K. Lloyd

ISELIN, N.J., Sept. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH), New Jersey's largest and most comprehensive health network, today announced a transformational $125 million gift from an anonymous donor — the largest philanthropic commitment in the network's history, the largest gift of its kind in New Jersey healthcare, and among the largest donations to any hospital or health system in the United States.

The gift will advance HMH's mission to bring the best nationally ranked care closer to the people and communities it serves by expanding Jersey Shore University Medical Center. The donor, who has requested anonymity, has asked that the gift honor the legacy of the late John K. Lloyd by naming a pavilion at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune after him. A dedication ceremony will take place in the future. John K. Lloyd was a visionary leader who spent more than four decades building Jersey Shore University Medical Center into one of the nation's premier academic medical centers and served as co-CEO of HMH with Bob Garrett.

Nine-figure gifts to American hospitals remain rare, and nearly all of them carry the donor's name. Over the past year, the largest healthcare donations in the country have come from widely known benefactors. At $125 million, this gift ranks among the largest in the nation this year. It is also one of the very few made anonymously, and one of the rarest of all: a donor who declined to put their own name on the building, asking instead that it honor the hospital executive who spent four decades building it.

"In a year when the largest gifts in American healthcare have come from some of the most recognizable names in the country, someone chose to give $125 million and ask for nothing — no name on the building, no announcement, no recognition," said Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, chief executive officer of Hackensack Meridian Health. "They asked us to honor John Lloyd instead. That tells you everything about what this gift is really about. As a not-for-profit network, we put every dollar we receive right back into caring for our communities. Hackensack Meridian Health is home to the #1 adult and children's hospitals in New Jersey and the #1 and only nationally ranked cancer center in the state. We save more lives than any other health network in New Jersey; our patients return home faster and are less likely to experience complications. This gift allows us to keep getting better, every single day, for the families who count on us. And naming the John K. Lloyd Pavilion is deeply personal for all of us — John's fingerprints are on everything we have built together."

The donor hopes this gift will inspire others to make philanthropy a priority. As a not-for-profit health network, Hackensack Meridian Health has no shareholders and no owners. Every dollar the network earns — and every dollar it receives — is reinvested directly into patient care: the doctors and nurses at the bedside, the technology that makes earlier diagnosis and less invasive treatment possible, the research that brings tomorrow's cures to patients today, and the community programs that reach people long before they ever need a hospital.

Not-for-profit hospitals also care for everyone who comes through their doors, regardless of ability to pay, while providing charity care, community health screenings, behavioral health services, and other essential programs that are rarely, if ever, fully reimbursed. Insurance and government reimbursement typically cover the cost of treating a patient — they do not cover the cost of building the next critical care tower, recruiting world-class specialists, opening a trauma bay, or funding the clinical trial that saves a life five years from now.

That gap is where philanthropy comes in. Charitable giving is what allows a not-for-profit hospital to move faster than its budget, to say yes to bold ideas, and to build capacity for a community before the need becomes a crisis. Gifts of every size — from a $25 tribute in honor of a nurse to a transformational commitment like this one — compound into better outcomes for New Jersey families.

This gift arrives in the midst of the most ambitious fundraising effort in New Jersey healthcare history. In 2021, the Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation launched Be the Difference, a transformative campaign to innovate healthcare with a goal of raising $1 billion — the largest campaign of its kind in the state. The campaign is built on four pillars: patient care; research; medical education and the nursing profession; and access to care. To donate, visit GiveHMH.org.

"Philanthropy changes what is possible," said Joyce Hendricks, president and chief development officer, Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation. "A gift of $125 million — the largest in our history and the largest of its kind ever made in New Jersey healthcare — reflects a donor's deep confidence in our doctors, nurses, and other clinicians. It will help us expand access, advance the most sophisticated treatments available anywhere in the country, and ensure that world-class care is not something families have to travel far to find. It's already in their backyard. When we launched Be the Difference, we set out to prove that New Jersey families should never have to leave this state for world-class care. A gift like this one moves us decisively toward that goal — and I hope it moves others to join us."

"John devoted his life to Jersey Shore and to the people of this community. He believed a hospital was more than a building — it was a promise to your neighbors," said Maureen Lloyd, wife of the late John Lloyd. "To see his name on this pavilion, and to know that a gift of this magnitude will care for patients here for generations, would have meant everything to him. Our family is profoundly grateful to this donor, and to the doctors, nurses, and team members who carry John's mission forward every day."

A Princeton graduate and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, John K. Lloyd entered health care in 1972 and was named president of Jersey Shore Medical Center in 1982, at a moment when the hospital stood at a crossroads. Working alongside physicians, nurses, trustees, and community leaders, he set it on a path that would make it one of New Jersey's leading academic medical centers — home to cardiac surgery, a regional trauma center, a comprehensive stroke center, and the region's first state-designated children's hospital. In 1997, he led the merger that created Meridian Health, which became the first health system in the country to earn Magnet designation for nursing excellence. In 2016, he helped bring together Hackensack University Health Network and Meridian Health to form Hackensack Meridian Health, serving as co-CEO until his retirement in 2018. He was later honored as the New Jersey Hospital Association's Healthcare Professional of the Year, received NJBIZ's Icon Award, and was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Healthcare Executives of New Jersey. The pavilion that will bear his name continues the work he began in Neptune more than four decades ago.

Investing in Monmouth County

The gift comes as HMH continues an unprecedented period of investment in Monmouth County and throughout the region.

Jersey Shore University Medical Center is the #1 hospital in Monmouth and Ocean counties, according to U.S. News & World Report, and the only Level I adult and Level I pediatric trauma center in the area — the highest possible certification for trauma care. It is home to K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital, the #1 children's hospital in New Jersey, and to a Level III NICU, one of the highest levels of newborn intensive care.

As the fastest-growing hospital in New Jersey, Jersey Shore sees more than 100,000 emergency department visits each year and regularly operates at or near inpatient capacity. In response, HMH has committed more than $1 billion over 10 years through its Master Facility Plan for a new critical care tower, 24 new operating rooms, and expanded patient facilities — built right on the Neptune campus, just minutes from the medically underserved community of Asbury Park. The recently opened $45 million Cardiovascular Suite at Jersey Shore has already nearly tripled patient capacity for life-saving heart and stroke care.

Nearby, Riverview Medical Center — a staple in Red Bank for nearly 100 years, with a consistent "A" rating from Leapfrog for Hospital Safety — is undergoing a $56 million expansion that will completely redesign its emergency department and add a new 20-room private oncology unit. The redesigned ED, slated for completion in 2027, will include an in-unit CT scanner to cut wait times, a dedicated six-bed secured crisis unit for patients experiencing behavioral health emergencies, and expanded waiting areas designed to protect immunocompromised patients and visitors.

HMH has also invested heavily in bringing care directly into Monmouth County neighborhoods, with large, multi-specialty Health & Wellness Centers in Eatontown and Freehold, robust primary care in Howell, and an additional Health & Wellness Center opening in Red Bank soon. At HMH Health & Wellness Centers, patients can access urgent care, annual checkups, specialists, imaging, labs, and pharmacy — all in one visit. HMH now operates 12 Health & Wellness Centers across the state, with additional locations coming soon.

"These investments reflect a deliberate choice to stay rooted in the communities that depend on us," Garrett added. "Healthcare should strengthen communities — not weaken existing hospitals or abandon vulnerable patients.