$550K Gift To Bergen Hospital Establishes Heart Research Fund

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — A Saddle River couple recent donation of $550,000 has established a special fund to help further heart and vascular research.

Robert Williams and his wife Carol donated to the money to create the Williams Family Heart Research Fund at Hackensack University Medical Center. The fund will help support research projects at the center's Heart & Vascular Hospital.

Robert Williams was a former patient at the hospital.

“My wife and I want to make a difference and this was the area in which we have a strong connection," Williams said. "The fund we have established will help doctors learn which cardiovascular procedures are more effective in certain patients, in order to establish better outcomes overall.”

The fund will help establish the Heart Rhythm Database and and research the cardiovascular impact of amphetamines on the cardiovascular system.

"We’ve been very blessed in our lives," said Williams. "True happiness and contentment comes from doing for others. Carol and I feel very hopeful the information that will be developed from this research initiative with not only save lives, but also improve the quality of life for many people.”

Email daniel.hubbard@patch.com. Get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our new app. Download here.

Photo, from left to right: Robert Budelman III, executive director, Individual Giving, Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation; Ihor Sawczuk, M.D., president, Hackensack University Medical Center; William Salerno, M.D., director, Cardiac Care Unit and director, Advanced Cardiovascular Assessment Program/ACAP, Heart and Vascular Hospital; Carol Williams; Robert Williams; Grant Simons, M.D., chief, Heart Rhythm Services, Heart and Vascular Hospital; and Joseph Parrillo, chair, Heart and Vascular Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center.