PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The founder of the Xtra Mart convenience store chain is giving $100 million to the Brown University medical school to construct a new building, fund scholarships and attract top researchers and doctors, said the Associated Press.
In return, Brown announced Monday it would rename its 35-year-old medical school in honor of Warren Alpert, 86, the founder and chairman of Warren Equities Inc., which sells fuel and groceries in more than 400 Xtra Mart c-stores in the Northeast.
The scope of the gift is so significant [image-nocss] that it will affect virtually every dimension of the medical school, Brown University President Ruth Simmons said.
The gift is the largest ever received by the medical school, and the largest ever given by Providence, R.I.-based Warren Alpert Foundation. We hope to build this into one of the great medical schools in the country, said Herbert Kaplan, the foundation's president.
Kaplan said Alpert has always been fascinated with medical education, and said he believed it was the way to help mankind. Alpert, who lives in New York, started his company in Providence in 1950.
In other Xtra Mart news, Lisa Soucy, manager of the Jewett City, Conn., Xtra Mart and wife of SPC (U.S. Army Specialist) Paul E. Soucy Jr. asked Xtra Mart management if they would help supply a wireless laptop computer for her husband and fellow soldiers in Afghanistan, the company said.
Lisa Soucy wanted a way to make the separation between soldiers and families more bearable.
Xtra Mart immediately responded and the laptop has since made every moment count, with conversations and photos for many soldiers and their families.
In recognition, Xtra Mart received a certificate and was presented a U.S. flag, which was flown on the Taliban Last Stand building, now the headquarters for the U.S. Garrison Command in Kandahar. The flag was flown in remembrance of the Americans who died in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
Xtra Mart employs many affected by the war and salutes all the soldiers and their families for their courage during this time of separation and hope for a safe return for all, the company said.
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