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Generous Gift To Kids' Museum Shows Bighearted Side Of Glazers

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 21, 2007

Well, shiver me timbers. The owners of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just emerged from years of lying low to bestow a treasure on the people of Tampa Bay.

The children of Bucs owner Malcolm Glazer, who was sadly sidelined by two strokes last year, opened the lid of the Glazer Family Foundation last week to give the Tampa Children's Museum $5 million for a new fun-filled center sure to stir the imagination. The gift boosted the museum's fundraising thermometer to $9 million, toward a goal of $21 million.

Appropriately enough, the center will be called the Glazer Children's Museum.

How nice to see the family's name on a cornerstone of downtown Tampa's continued revival. And how gratifying to see the Glazers join the region's too-small circle of big-time givers.

You might recall that we took the Bucs' owners to task in June for failing to give back to this community in more meaningful ways.

The Glazers have supported worthy causes in Tampa, given tickets to challenged children and delivered Bucs teddy bears to sick kids. But as their worth grew with this community's support, the family remained distant and detached.

Until Monday.

Edward Glazer said his brother Bryan called him with the idea about a month ago. Edward then called brother Joel and sister Darcie. 'It took us about two minutes to talk to everyone in the family and get onboard. We were so excited.'

Philanthropists say the payback from giving often exceeds the expense.

Frank Morsani choked up when trying to explain what giving $10 million to the University of South Florida meant to him and his wife, Carol. 'We just think you have to put a lot back,' he said.

Hinks Shimberg once told us that giving is best when you have passion for the project. 'I see philanthropy as something that you not only give your money to, but you also give your time to.'

And when Leslie Muma and his wife Pam last year gave $6 million to Tampa General Hospital for a first-class neonatal unit, he said he hoped 'what we're doing sets an example.'

Unfortunately, some famously rich Tampa families are noticeably missing from this community's circle of giving.

Still, others give generously time and again.

It's always dangerous to name names, for fear of overlooking someone, but we're still going to try.

In addition to the philanthropists whose photos appear below, others deserving of recognition for their generosity to this community are Ted Couch, the Pepin family, Ray and Nancy Murray, John and Susan Sykes, the Gonzmart family, the Lykes and Ferguson families, Marty and Ruth Silbiger, Donald A.. Adam, Gus and Frances Stavros, Jim and Celia Ferman, Mary Lee Farrior, Chris Sullivan, Pat Sullivan, Derrick Brooks, Warrick Dunn and Vincent Lecavalier.

To this list we now add the Glazer family, whose foundation was established 10 years ago to focus on young people.

It sounds like they're passionate about the children's museum. Perhaps they'll apply sweat equity to the project, too, a great way to deepen their connections in this community.

And perhaps over time they'll find passion in other local projects, too.

But for now, they deserve heartfelt thanks for helping enhance this community's quality of life.

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