For billionaire businessman and philanthropist Tom Golisano, the closing months of 2024 were filled with reminders about the sometimes-fleeting nature of health and the importance of high-quality health care. Within a period of six weeks, his 96-year-old sister had a hip replacement — and ended up as active as ever. His great-granddaughter underwent a successful heart transplant, and he himself needed to have a pacemaker installed. Golisano shared these personal reflections on his and his family’s recent health events at a late-November announcement in Naples where he surprised 41 Southwest Florida nonprofits with unrestricted gifts totaling $85 million, including $15 million to health care systems. The gifts came just a couple of months after Golisano gave 82 major gifts totaling $360 million to organizations in upstate New York, including $52 million to the Golisano Foundation, increasing its assets to $120 million. Those combined gifts brought Golisano’s philanthropy for 2024 to half a billion dollars and his lifelong philanthropy to $860 million, according to figures provided by the Golisano Foundation. The gifts bestowed in Naples spanned five categories: Health care, education, intellectual and developmental disabilities, other critical community needs and animal welfare, with pledges ranging from $150,000 to $10 million over four to five years. As The Naples Press reported at the time, Golisano told the nonprofit leaders assembled at the November event at arts venue Artis—Naples that he understood how difficult it is to raise money, and that he had been “impressed with the dedication and innovation” of the organizations he has built relationships with across Southwest Florida. “I’ve said it many times, and lately more than ever: The only wealth you get to keep is that which you give away. And since I applied for immortality and was denied, I’m here today to give some away,” he told the crowd, to laughter and loud applause, adding that the amount would total $85 million. The largest awards, $10 million each, went to Golisano Children’s Hospital and Ave Maria University in the fields of health care and education. Naples Comprehensive Health received $5 million (following another recent gift of $5 million from the Golisano Foundation). Other organizations receiving $5 million each included Easterseals Southwest Florida, Family Initiative, Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida, LARC Inc. and STARability. Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples received $4 million, and Guadalupe Center, American Red Cross Southwest Florida, Meals of Hope and Youth Haven received $3 million each. In a wide-ranging late December interview at the Naples home he shares with his wife, retired tennis champion Monica Seles, Golisano talked about what motivated the surprise gifts in Naples in November; what led him to start Paychex, a payroll and human resources company; what he’s doing to help change business education — and how he wants to be remembered. Surprising t...