Grady Donor Revealed, Lease Signed

By Odette Yousef

Atlanta, GA – A new, non-profit board of directors hopes to assume control of Grady Health Systems in three weeks. Yesterday, Grady's trustees took a step in that direction, by signing a lease that turns the hospital's contracts over to the board.

Before the lease was signed, Pete Correll, chair of the new board, gave Grady's trustees a written commitment for a huge sum of money. In doing that, Correll revealed the hitherto-anonymous source of that gift:

CORRELL: The fact that the woodruff foundation gave us $200 million means so much in credibility in the philanthropic community and our ability to raise further funds, that I think that is just an unbelievable linchpin to start a capital campaign.

The Woodruff Foundation, built from the wealth of late Coca Cola president Robert Woodruff, supports charitable, educational, and scientific projects in Georgia.

Correll says over the next three weeks, the new board will file for tax-exempt non-profit status, and take care of legal contractual issues. He also said they would begin searching for new CEO soon.