Rossy Family donating $30 million for cancer research

CTV Montreal: Rossy family donates millions for cancer care

A Montreal family is making a hefty donation to cancer care that is being matched by other philanthropic foundations.

The Rossy Family Foundation is giving $30 million, while $28 million will come from the cancer foundations of the McGill University Health Centre, the Jewish General Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital to create an initiative called the Rossy Cancer Network.

The money will help the hospitals and the Rossy Foundation share research, pool resources and build on their individual strengths by working together as four significant cancer centres.

The hope is that the teamwork and framework will help track patient satisfaction, quality of care and cancer outcomes.

For Larry Rossy this initiative is the result of professional and personal commitment.

"I've been a lucky man my whole life and felt it was time to contribute to my community. And we chose cancer because it's a disease that's closest to our family and has hit our family negatively over the last number of years," said Rossy.

Cancer is a leading cause of death in Quebec, with 130 people are diagnosed with the disease every day.

About 47,000 were diagnosed in Quebec in 2012.