Aresty family gives $5 million to Department of Urology
Joseph Aresty came to the USC/Norris Cancer Center in 1994 hoping that Donald G. Skinner could rid him of cancer. Skinner, chair of the Department of Urology in the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and his colleagues did their work.
In gratitude, Aresty and his wife, Catherine, gave the USC/Norris $2.5 million two years later, then another $3 million in 1998. Now they have given $5 million to construct a floor devoted to urological cancer research within the future Harlyne J. Norris Cancer Research Tower.
In recognition of the Aresty's generous support of more than $10 million, the USC urology department has been renamed the Catherine and Joseph Aresty Department of Urology. This designation, said Bill Watson, director of development at USC/Norris, reflects the powerful impact that the Aresty's philanthropy has made on the university's leadership in urologic treatment and research.
The first gift supported Skinner's research and endowed the Catherine and Joseph Aresty Chair for Urologic Research, currently held by Ronald K. Ross, professor of urology and professor and chair of preventive medicine. A portion of the $2.5 million gift expanded prostate cancer research in four laboratory suites now known as the Catherine and Joseph Aresty Urologic Cancer Research Laboratory
In 1998, the couple contributed $3 million to create the Catherine and Joseph Aresty Endowment for Urologic Cancer, which supports the research of a senior scientist and provides discretionary funds for the urology department chair.
"Mr. and Mrs. Aresty's generous gifts have been essential in terms of allowing the research program in urology to develop and flourish," said Skinner, holder of the Hanson-White Chair in Medical Research at USC.
"There is a great joy in giving," said Joseph Aresty. "I am very thankful for what Dr. Skinner and the center have done for me and overjoyed that Catherine and I are able to participate in his new endeavor... Dr. Skinner is very well known on the East Coast, I consulted with many doctors, and they all pointed me in his direction."
Now, seven years after his initial treatment at Norris, Aresty has resumed his role as chairman of the board of Alfred Dunner, Inc., the family-owned and -operated New York-based clothing manufacturing company he established in 1961.
Aresty, a 1946 graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, met Catherine when, just out of school, he joined Macy's department store in New York, where he worked as a buyer and merchandiser. She was the store's director of fashion.
Of the gifts he and his wife have made, Aresty said, "My hope was that these sums would, in some way, help future patients afflicted with urologic malignancies, and that research would someday conquer this dreadful disease."
"Mr. and Mrs. Aresty have been extremely generous," said Skinner. "They came to us seeking a better quality of life and then asked what they could do to help support a better quality of life for other patients."
Caption: Donors Joseph and Catherine Aresty flank USC/Norris Director Peter Jones during a tour of the USC/Norris labs in April.
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