University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
MD Anderson was created by an act of the Texas Legislature in 1941, making it a part of The University of Texas System and was established by the National Cancer Act of 1971. Today it is one of 49 Comprehensive Cancer Centers designated by the National Cancer Institute. The cancer center provided care for more than 137,000 patients in Fiscal Year 2017 and employs more than 20,000 people.
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
The cancer center is named after Monroe Dunaway Anderson, a banker and cotton trader from Jackson, Tennessee. He was a member of a business partnership with his brother-in-law Will Clayton. Their company became the largest cotton company in the world. Anderson feared that in the event of one of the partners' deaths, the company would lose a large amount of money to estate tax and be forced to dissolve. To avoid this, Anderson created the MD Anderson Foundation with an initial sum of $300,000. In 1939 after Anderson's death, the foundation received $19 million.