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Phillip Frost

This South Florida billionaire is Florida’s most charitable donor
Jun 20, 2017, 2:43pm EDT Updated Jun 20, 2017, 3:32pm EDT

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2017/06/20/this-south-florida-billionaire-is-florida-s-most.html

Biotech billionaire Phillip Frost and his wife, Patricia, have donated more than $170 million to charity since 2000, making them the most philanthropic family in all of Florida, according to a newly released report.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy tracked public data on donations made in the past 17 years. On Tuesday, the online publication released information on the most philanthropic families in each of the 50 U.S. states and Washington D.C. All told, the donors on the list have donated more than $84 billion to charity within the period tracked.

Donations by the Frosts, according to the report, include a $100 million gift to the University of Miami’s applied sciences and engineering programs, and a $33 million gift in 2003 to the Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music, also at UM. They also have donated to the Miami Science Museum and the Scripps Research Institute Florida, based in Jupiter.

The list notes that charitable donors are not required by law to disclose gifts, “and many prefer to give quietly or anonymously,” so the list may not include every major gift by each donor.

Nebraska-based investment guru Warren Buffett is responsible for more than half of the $84.7 billion counted by the list, donating more than $46 billion in 2006 to nonprofits such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

More than half a dozen donors across the U.S., including the Waltons of the Wal-Mart franchise and private equity billionaire David Rubenstein, donated more to charity than the Frosts, according to the list.

Phillip Frost is the founder and CEO of Opko Health, a biotech and pharmaceuticals firm based in Miami. The publicly traded company has a market worth of about $3.84 billion.