Hackensack Meridian Health has announced a transformational $125 million gift from an anonymous donor, the largest philanthropic commitment in the health network’s history and the largest gift of its kind ever made to New Jersey healthcare.

The donation will support the expansion of Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, helping advance Hackensack Meridian Health’s efforts to bring nationally ranked healthcare closer to the communities it serves.

At the donor’s request, a pavilion at Jersey Shore University Medical Center will be named the John K. Lloyd Pavilion in honor of the late John K. Lloyd, a longtime healthcare leader who spent more than four decades helping build the Neptune hospital into one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers.

Lloyd served as president of Jersey Shore Medical Center and later helped lead the formation of Meridian Health and Hackensack Meridian Health. He served as co-CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health alongside Robert Garrett until his retirement in 2018.

Hackensack Meridian Health says nine-figure gifts to American hospitals are rare, particularly anonymous donations of this size. The donor also declined to have their own name placed on the building, instead asking that the pavilion honor Lloyd’s legacy.

“This gift allows us to keep getting better, every single day, for the families who count on us,” said Robert C. Garrett, chief executive officer of Hackensack Meridian Health. “Naming the John K. Lloyd Pavilion is deeply personal for all of us. John’s fingerprints are on everything we have built together.”

The $125 million gift comes as Hackensack Meridian Health continues its Be the Difference fundraising campaign, launched in 2021 with a goal of raising $1 billion for patient care, research, medical education, nursing, and expanded access to healthcare.

Joyce Hendricks, president and chief development officer of the Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation, said the historic donation will help expand access to advanced treatments and further strengthen healthcare services for New Jersey families.

Lloyd’s wife, Maureen Lloyd, said the recognition would have meant a great deal to her late husband.

“John devoted his life to Jersey Shore and to the people of this community,” she said. “He believed a hospital was more than a building. It was a promise to your neighbors.”

A dedication ceremony for the John K. Lloyd Pavilion will be held at a future date.