OSU medical center named for trustee

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio State trustees on Friday voted to rename the university’s medical center in honor of Limited Brands founder and longtime university supporter Leslie Wexner.

The announcement came almost exactly a year after Wexner donated $100 million to the medical center, one of the largest such gifts to a public university.

Wexner, 74, also previously donated $25 million to create the Wexner Center for the Arts, named for his father.

Ohio State President Gordon Gee said Wexner has been one of the university’s most committed supporters for more than three decades.

“His generous contributions, both in time and resources, have been wholly transformational, but his most valuable gift has been his remarkable leadership,” Gee said in a statement.

The medical center, in the midst of a $1.1 billion expansion, will be known as the Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University.

Wexner, a 1959 Ohio State graduate, has donated more than $200 million to the university and helped raise hundreds of millions more.

Also Friday, trustees voted to select the head of one of the country’s biggest home-construction businesses as the board’s new chairman, replacing Wexner, who will remain on the board.

Robert Schottenstein takes on his new job after chairing a trustee committee that led the university’s response to the Ohio State football team’s memorabilia scandal.

Schottenstein, board chairman, chief executive officer and president of M/I Homes Inc., was named to the board in 2005.

Trustees approve major spending at the university and with the input of the university president shape Ohio State’s programs and policies.