Life trustee and philanthropist Sandra Atlas Bass has donated three significant gifts totaling $40 million to Northwell Health, bringing her lifetime giving to the health system to more than $93 million.
Through her dual roles as owner of a successful property management company in Great Neck and president of the Sandra Atlas Bass and Edythe and Sol G. Atlas Fund, Inc., she is a symbol of what one person can achieve.
“I wish happiness for everyone on this earth,” she said.
Bass has supported cardiac care at Northwell Health for more than 25 years. Of her recent gifts, $25 million will be allocated to North Shore University Hospital (NSUH) to support the Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital on the Manhasset campus, which continues a legacy of giving to cardiology. She previously funded the Sandra Atlas Bass Cardiology Centers at both North Shore and Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park. The Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital now integrates cardiology and cardiac surgery from the two hospitals into one facility—and Northwell Health’s application to establish a heart transplant surgery center at the Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital was recently approved by the state Department of Health.
Bass also contributed more than $12 million to continue her support of LIJ Medical Center’s Hearing and Speech Center, which will be named the Sandra Atlas Bass Otolaryngology Center. Last year, in recognition of her $3 million gift, Northwell Health opened the Sandra Atlas Bass Center for Liver Diseases on the NSUH campus.
“Sandra Atlas Bass has been a tremendous partner of Northwell Health for more than two decades,” said Michael J. Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health. “Her continued commitment and compassion is helping us elevate the quality of care we deliver
and improve the lives of countless people within the communities we serve. We are extraordinarily grateful for her generous support.”
Her altruism has touched the lives of so many people and animals through more than 400 charities. Bass also supports organizations such as cerebral palsy, The INN, North Shore Animal League America, muscular dystrophy, orphanages in Israel and Italy, soup kitchens everywhere, no-kill animal shelters and sanctuaries both here and around the world.
“Giving is an opportunity to directly change people’s lives,” said Bass, who was honored with the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Horace Hagedorn Philanthropist of the Year Award in 2016, which recognizes an individual whose generosity inspires others to give and make a difference in the Long Island community by actively advancing philanthropy.
She has dedicated her life to making a difference by helping to better the lives of people and animals, and said she hopes that her philanthropy inspires others.
“My life has always been dedicated to making a difference in this world by helping people and animals better their lives by making their lives healthier and happier. I believe that if you can save one person or one animal, you have begun to save the world.”
The Association of Fundraising Professionals Long Island Chapter added, “There is not a day that goes by that Bass does not look for some person or animal that she can help. She is truly a philanthropist extraordinaire.”
