Hope for Our Most Fragile Babies

Ross Mayer, a financial advisor, has been generously supporting Connecticut Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) since 1976, when it was based at Newington Children’s Hospital. But his connection to the NICU goes back even farther than that. When he graduated from college in 1970, he was drafted into the Army Reserve, where part of his assignment was visiting Newington Children’s Hospital twice each month. He got to know the children and the staff there, and it left a deep impression on him, an impression that was deepened even more through personal tragedy.

“My son Spencer was born in the old Hartford Hospital,” Ross says. “They had him in a very primitive incubator bed, and they had all these rules, including one that said you couldn’t put your hand in there without gloves. I wanted to touch him, but the doctor wouldn’t let me, so I said, ‘Doc, he’s my son, he doesn’t look like he’s in very good shape, and I’m going to do what I want.’ Well, a miracle happened that day. I put my hand in, and Spencer, who had hydrocephalus and a spine going out of his back, and probably would have had a club foot had he lived, that beautiful little boy rolled over and grabbed my pinky. He was dead the next day. Spencer’s touch was his way of telling me to turn his tragedy into hope for other babies to live normal lives.”

And that is exactly what Ross has done. Over the past 47 years, he has made a long series of very generous donations, including, in 2018, creating an endowed fund for the NICU, which later grew into the Ross Mayer Endowed Chair for Neonatal Intensive Care. One of his earlier gifts allowed the purchase of highly specialized isolettes for NICU babies, called Omnibeds.

All of his gifts have made it possible for the NICU to recruit the best doctors and nurses and to purchase essential cutting-edge equipment, like the Omnibeds. And it is making a significant difference for the babies we care for. These infants, mostly very premature, are our most fragile patients: their organs have not fully developed, and their bodies are not yet ready for the outside world. They are susceptible to a host of very serious problems and require critical care. And that’s exactly what they get in the NICU.

The creation of an endowed chair was a high point in Ross’s support, but that wasn’t the end of it, by any means. He has since committed to a multi-year gift to name the first of 50 private patient rooms in the NICU expansion planned for Connecticut Children’s new tower. Ross’s dedication to Connecticut Children’s is so strong that he has included a provision in his estate plan to ensure his commitments to Connecticut Children’s are covered, if he should pass before they are fulfilled. “I want Spencer’s good deed to continue forever, and I’ll make good on that, whether I’m alive or dead,” he says.

In doing so, he has also ensured that thousands of fragile babies will survive and grow up to have futures of their own.

The arrangements Ross has made are only one example of how donors can create a financial legacy to help sick children for years to come. There are almost as many varieties of planned giving as there are donors, and Connecticut Children’s will be happy to help you explore what might work best for you.