Norwalk Hospital Gets $40 Million from Ruth Bedford Estate, Westport-Weston Y Gets the Same

Originally published at 3:12 p.m.; update (at bottom of the article) at 3:57 p.m.:

Norwalk Hospital and the Westport-Weston Family Y have jointly announced that they will each receive $40 million from the estate of the late Ruth Bedford of Westport, who volunteered at each.

“Both institutions anticipate that the gifts will have a major, enduring impact on the communities of Westport and Greater Norwalk,” an announcement from the Y and the hospital said.

Bedford’s estate made headlines last October when it was revealed she had left $40 million for the Foxcroft School, a secondary school where she was an alumnus.

Bedford was a frequent volunteer at the hospital, and her family had given large donations to it in the past. The Westport-Weston Family Y has an even bigger connection: Bedford’s grandfather, Edward T. Bedford, founded it and Bedfords have been giving to it, volunteering at it and sitting on the organization’s board of directors for decades.

A lifelong resident of Westport, Bedford died at the age of 99 last June 15,

The YMCA and the hospital are each working out how they’re going to spend the money.

Bedfords and the Westport-Weston Family Y

A former YMCA trustee Ruth Bedford “was instrumental” in helping the Family Y renovate and expand its original downtown Westport building in the 1980s, according to the announcement.

Ruth Bedford’s father, industrialist Frederick T. Bedford, helped the Family YMCA buy land that eventually became Camp Mahackeno, the Y’s summer day camp.

“It is expected that this endowment will ensure the long-term viability of the Westport Weston Family YMCA and its ability to serve the community, with funds earmarked for current and future capital development needs and to endow programs for wellness and youth in a way that honors the tradition of the Bedford family legacy,” the announcement said.

Pete Wolgast, chairman of the Family YMCA’s Board of Trustees, which oversees the organization’s investments and endowments, said, “Ruth Bedford’s family has been indispensable to the YMCA for more then eight decades. We are determined to make the family proud of how we will use this generous bequest.”

The Bedfords and Norwalk Hospital

Bedford was “a generous donor and longtime volunteer at Norwalk Hospital, where she logged nearly 17,000 volunteer hours in the Hospital gift shop over five decades,” according to the announcement.

Norwalk Hospital has set up a task force of volunteers and administrators to evaluate how to “maximize the transformative impact of the Bedford bequest, with a goal of enhancing the Hospital’s patient care programs and services to best serve the Greater Norwalk community,” the announcement said.

“We are thrilled to have received this wonderful gift, the latest chapter in the Bedford family’s long legacy of generous support of Norwalk Hospital,” Edward B. Mahony, chairman of hospital’s board of directors, said in the joint announcement.

As with the YMCA in Westport, Ruth Bedford’s grandfather, Edward, was an early and big donor to Norwalk Hospital. The oil executive and philanthropist paid for the addition of the hospital’s Bedford Pavilion, completed in 1929, which doubled the number of patients the hospital could take in.

Her father and mother, Frederick and Lucie Bedford, also gave ”generous” donations to Norwalk Hospital, according to the announcement.

“The profound impact of a gift of this magnitude to the greater Norwalk and Westport communities is difficult to quantify,” said Barbara Butler, a Norwalk Hospital Board Member and the director of human services for the town of Westport. “Clearly, we are extremely grateful. Ruth Bedford’s legacy will touch the lives of men, women and children in our community for generations to come.”

Updates on the Gifts

Update, 3:57 p.m.:

According to an article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a national publication that had the earliest and most extensive article about Wednesday’s announcement, a hospital official John Murphy, chief executive of Western Connecticut Health Network, of which Norwalk Hospital is an affiliate, said the bequest won’t go toward regular operating expenses but rather into improving the hospital’s care in various ways.

The hospital will take six months to figure out how to spend the money, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported, but the publication said there are some ideas being considered — “directing portions of the bequest toward education programs for medical personnel, building improvements, new or enhanced programs, and the development of new patient-wellness projects.” The donation, according to the Chronicle, ”will enable the most up-to-date training and care.”

Bedford and her family had previously given $10 million to the hospital at various times, the publication reported.

Picture: Ruth Bedford, from Foxcroft School