One of the wealthiest U.S. hedge fund managers has pledged $25 million to Livingston, N.J.-based Saint Barnabas Medical Center.
Leon Cooperman and his Leon and Toby Cooperman Family Foundation funded the award, one of the largest single gifts to a New Jersey hospital, according to Saint Barnabas officials. Saint Barnabas is the 597-bed flagship hospital of Barnabas Health, headquartered in West Orange, N.J.
The money will go toward the hospital's new 200,000-square-foot Cooperman Family Pavilion, which will feature a neonatal intensive care unit, outpatient heart services, an ambulatory surgery center and several floors with private patient rooms. The structure is expected to be completed in 2018.
Mr. Cooperman, who previously worked extensively for financial giant Goldman Sachs, runs Omega Advisors, a hedge fund with more than $6 billion in assets. According to Forbes, he was the ninth highest-earning hedge fund manager in the U.S. in 2012, accruing $470 million in earnings.
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