Meet Mike Myers: The Philanthropist Who Just Gave Big for a Dallas Hospital

Dallas is getting a new public hospital, thanks to one of the largest public-private hospital initiatives in U.S. history. “I Stand for Parkland” was a capital campaign designed to pay for the new Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas County’s only public hospital, and the Parkland Foundation just reached its $150 million goal.

To push fundraising over the edge, Dallas entrepreneur and philanthropist Mike Myers kicked in $5 million for the campaign. Myers is the chairman and CEO of the Dallas-based Myers Financial Corporation and president of Myers Development Corporation, which is a residential development company in Texas and Missouri.

“The new Parkland hospital represents the best of what our community can do when we come together in a common, noble purpose,” Myers said. “I hope that my commitment inspires others to recognize the value this institution provides to the Dallas community. It is an absolutely essential resource for our most vulnerable citizens, but Parkland is also a pioneer in innovative approaches to medicine. You can’t beat that.”

A University of Texas alum, Myers worked his way from a penniless college student to start a catering service, open a hamburger restaurant, find success as a Bible salesman, and earn a law degree. After dabbling in politics, he made his fortune in real estate and banking, owning and operating restaurants, country clubs, banks, and residential community developments.

And this isn’t Myers’s first million dollar health grant in Dallas. In 2006, he and his wife, Sammye, gave $1 million to the Parkland Foundation to help construct and develop an ambulatory surgery center at Parkland Health & Hospital System. That same year, the couple gave $1 million to the Southwestern Medical Foundation in Dallas for medical research. He’s also been a big supporter of education and athletics at UT.

Mike Myers is the co-founder of the Foundation for Texas Excellence Scholars, and he’s served as president of the Texas Longhorn Education Foundation. Although Mike and Sammye haven’t established a family foundation with a helpful website to channel and publicize their philanthropic giving, Myers is definitely a name that North Texas nonprofits should get familiar with.

Other major donors to the hospital’s campaign were the Harold Simmons Foundation and the Rees-Jones Foundation. Both of these foundations are based in Dallas and have histories of funding causes in North Texas. The Parkland Foundation engages donors to secure financial resources for the Parkland Health & Hospital System. The cost of building the hospital is estimated to be at least $1.32 billion.