The Southwestern Medical Foundation presented the 2017 Charles Cameron Sprague Community Service Award to the Hoblitzelle Foundation on Feb. 7.
The Sprague Award is the foundation’s highest community distinction, recognizing those who provide significant support for the improvement of medical education and research and patient care. The award was created in 1991 and since then has been awarded to 45 distinguished civic and business leaders.
Southwestern Medical Foundation Chairman Robert B. Rowling says the Hoblitzelle Foundation has a long, storied history of giving to the community where it’s most needed and encouraging other donors to follow its lead.
“[The foundation’s] contributions to the advancement of medicine and science are a continuation of the proud legacy of the late Karl Hoblitzelle, one of the legendary founders of Southwestern Medical Foundation,” Rowling said.
Since its founding, the Hoblitzelle Foundation has contributed more than $213 million to social service, cultural, education, civic, preservation, and medical organizations of Texas. In 2016, the Hoblitzelle Foundation donated $2 million UT Southwestern’s Peter O’Donnell Brain Institute to advance research on brain injury and disease.
Hoblitzelle’s contribution to healthcare in Dallas started in the 1930s, when Hoblitzelle joined other local businessmen in raising money to build a medical center to satisfy Dallas’ growing demands for medical care. From there, he continued to impact Dallas and later established the Hoblitzelle Foundation with his wife Esther in 1942.
Today, the foundation provides grants to meet the needs of educational, social service, medical, cultural, and civic organizations in Texas and particularly in Dallas.
Paul W. Harris, president and CEO of the Hoblitzelle Foundation, said it’s honored to receive the award the same year as its 75th anniversary.
“On the 75th anniversary of our organization’s founding, we are deeply honored to receive the Sprague Award from a leading and longstanding Dallas institution we see as doing such important work in the discovery and improvement in our community,” Harris said.
