Mr. Irving was 98.
His philanthropy was supported by the fortune he made at Sysco, which he founded in 1969 along with John F. Baugh and Harry Rosenthal. Mr. Irving stepped down from his role as Sysco’s vice chairman in 1992 and remained on the board for two more years. In 2015, the company’s sales reached roughly $50 billion, according to the report.
Mr. Irving and his wife, Florence Irving, began donating to Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in the late 1980s. He was the organization’s largest donor and funded the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. In 1987, Mr. Irving began providing grants to enable students, called “Irving Scholars,” to conduct clinical research, according to the report.
Currently, more than a half-dozen facilities at the medical center bear Mr. Irving’s name.
In a 1997 interview with The New York Times, Mr. Irving said he directed his donations to cancer care and research because he believed cancer to be New York City’s greatest area of need.
“He’s been in it for the long haul,” Lee Goldman, MD, CEO of Columbia University Medical Center and dean of the faculties of health sciences and medicine, told The New York Times in the report announcing Mr. Irving’s death. “He has truly transformed the place.”
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