The Home Depot co-founder funded the Georgia Aquarium and a list of healthcare facilities and programs.
ATLANTA — Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of Home Depot who died this week at the age of 95, will have his name featured around the city of Atlanta for years to come.
The Atlanta-based home improvement store helped Marcus become a billionaire. In 2003, during an interview, he recalled being broke before hitting it big.
“We made it here and this city allowed us to make it,” Marcus said. “So why not share?”
Marcus wasn’t just a businessman. He was also a philanthropist. A gift of more than $200 million from Marcus helped build the Georgia Aquarium in Downtown Atlanta.
“This will be a place where people will come to Atlanta just to see this,” Marcus said years ago, of the tourist attraction before ground was broken for construction.
Georgia Aquarium’s Chief Marketing Officer Dan Dipiazzo credits Marcus for the creation of the site.
“Quite simply, there wouldn’t be a Georgia Aquarium without Bernie Marcus,” Dipiazzo said Thursday. “As a result more than 40 million people have been able to enjoy all of the wonders and excitement of the ocean in downtown Atlanta.”
It’s now a part of Marcus’ lasting legacy in Atlanta.
“I think his legacy will live on every time a school child comes through here,” Dipiazzo said. “Every time someone visits and is inspired to do something for the ocean and conservation. That is the living legacy that we hope to carry on at Georgia Aquarium.”
Not only did Marcus bring the Georgia Aquarium to life, but he helped pave the way to redevelop a portion of Downtown Atlanta.
Along with millions of tourists, the aquarium attracted other tourist destinations to be built in downtown. Now, the aquarium is surrounded by the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, World of Coca-Cola, College Football Hall of Fame and other Atlanta landmarks.
“That was part of Mr. Marcus’ vision,” Dipiazzo said. “He really wanted to not only produce the aquarium, but also use that as a way to build tourism and give back to Atlanta.”
Away from tourism, Marcus will be remembered in Atlanta for his impact on health care.
“Mr. Marcus really had a vision that he really didn’t want any Georgians to have to leave the state of Georgia to get health care and that is what he used his philanthropy to accomplish,” said Piedmont Atlanta CEO Patrick Battey.
Battey recalled Thursday how Marcus focused on funding health care where he saw a need.
“He identified those things that were personal to him that he felt like were major deficits in the care that was being offered and he put his money behind that,” he said.
Marcus’ name is featured on the outside of the metro’s top trauma center at Grady Hospital – the Marcus Trauma and Emergency Center.
Grady this week, released a statement, calling Marcus a “visionary philanthropist” who will leave an “indelible mark” on the community and the Grady Health System.
“Bernie’s vision and leadership were instrumental in the revitalization of Grady. His remarkable gifts helped fund the construction of the Marcus Stroke and Neuroscience Center and the Marcus Trauma & Emergency Center, which enabled Grady to enhance its infrastructure, expand services, and invest in state-of-the-art medical equipment,” the statement reads. “These contributions significantly improved patient care, particularly in the areas of trauma, stroke, and neurosciences.”
The statement added that as Grady mourns his death, it would celebrate Marcus’ legacy and life.
On Briarcliff Road in DeKalb, thousands of children every year receive care at the Marcus Autism Center. The center’s director, Dr. Ami Klin, sent 11Alive a statement saying Marcus was a person who made things happen.
“Bernie empowered us to not only create the leading science in the field, but to ensure that this science achieves tangible benefits for children and their families – not in some undefined future, but now,” Klin said. “And that’s the vision that we’re actualizing. Bernie’s impact on research and treatment of autism is profound. He has been one of most influential advocates on behalf of individuals with autism and their families. But, even more than an advocate, he has been actively involved in making things happen.”
In 2016, Marcus discussed his health care philanthropy with 11Alive.
“We are building a new heart center at Piedmont Hospital which I think is going to be critically important to the city,” Marcus said at the time.
One of his gifts to Piedmont led to the creation of the Marcus Heart Valve Center.
Next door at the Shepherd Center, gifts from Marcus helped expand spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation services and facilities.
“Most of the health care institutes in Atlanta are not for profit,” Battey said.
Battey said philanthropy on the level that Marcus gave will be missed within the Atlanta health care community.
“We are fortunate here at Peachtree and Collier Road. We have the Shepherd Center again right next to us and he has really helped us transform this whole area into a medical complex and we are very grateful of that,” Battey said.
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