On Wednesday, May 17, 2023, 6 p.m., UT Health San Antonio will host the inaugural President’s Luminary Honors at the Tobin Center for Performing Arts. I hope you will join us in recognizing this year’s distinguished Luminary Award Honorees: Joe R. Long, Margie and Bill Klesse, and the Mays Family Foundation. These individuals are being honored for the impact they have had on changing the face of health care in San Antonio.
Proceeds from this year’s President’s Luminary Honors will be used to establish the Presidential Awards UT Health San Antonio Hospital Fund, which will support activities of the new UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty & Research Hospital. This new hospital will be a destination center for the treatment of cancer and other complex diseases that disproportionately impact the people of San Antonio. It is our vision that no one in San Antonio should have to leave their home, and the support of family and their community, to get the specialty care and access to clinical trials they need.
2023 Distinguished Luminary Award Honorees
Margie and Bill Klesse
Community leaders and philanthropists Margie and Bill Klesse are true examples of what it means to care about your community. Bill is the former Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Valero Energy Corporation. At Valero, he was the chief proponent of volunteerism by encouraging employees to return the blessings they were enjoying. Margie has served on various community boards including the Mays Cancer Center Board of Governors, the Library Foundation, the Catholic Community Foundation, and the Ecumenical Council. Together, the couple established the Klesse Foundation to give even more back to the community. It has supported many worthy causes including the innovative work being performed in UT Health’s Mays Cancer Center, Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute and Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases as well as being the largest supporter of the new UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty and Research Hospital. Fueled by our commitment to excellence and discovery, this patient-centered hospital will deliver a singular healing advantage for the people of South Texas, ushering in a game-changing, fundamental shift to proactive, personalized medicine and could not have been possible without dedicated supporters like Margie and Bill.
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Joe R. Long
Joe R. Long with his beloved wife, Teresa Lozano Long who passed in 2021, gave their initial gift of $1 million to UT Health San Antonio in 1999 to support scholarships for medical students from South Texas. A transformative $25 million gift in 2008 expanded scholarships for students studying to be physicians, nurses, physician assistants and scientists. The Austin couple, who were married for 63 years and considered the Long Scholars their children, have contributed more than $70 million to UT Health to advance the future of health. Their legacy of giving resulted in the naming of main campus and the renaming of the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine.
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The Mays Family
Since its founding almost 50 years ago, UT Health San Antonio’s Mays Cancer Center has grown in stature, scope, funding, patient care and research. But there’s been at least one constant: the support of the Mays Family and the Mays Family Foundation. The Mays Family has long been involved in the effort to make the Mays Cancer Center the premier cancer treatment and research center in South Texas. As President of the Mays Family Foundation, Kathy Mays Johnson is carrying on her family’s legacy of giving back to the community. With grandparents and parents who believed in supporting worthy causes that aid, empower, enrich and educate, Kathy has been a longtime supporter of the Mays Cancer Center, which was renamed in 2018 in honor of her family and the Mays Family Foundation’s gifts of more than $50 million in the fight against cancer. Kathy and her parents, Lowry and Peggy Mays (who passed in 2022 and 2020 respectively), all battled cancer and were devoted to ensuring others can receive cancer treatment close to home.
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These individuals are being honored for the impact they have had on changing the face of health care in San Antonio.
Proceeds from the event will be used to establish the Presidential Awards UT Health San Antonio Hospital Fund, which will support activities of the new UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty & Research Hospital. This new hospital will be a destination center for the treatment of cancer and other complex diseases that disproportionately impact the people of San Antonio. It is our vision that no one in San Antonio should have to leave their home, and the support of family and their community, to get the specialty care and access to clinical trials they need.
We hope you will consider joining us for a spectacular evening in celebration of community members who have had a transformational impact on San Antonio and beyond.