New Windsor hospital site to be named Fancsy Family Hospital after $40M gift

The new Windsor acute care hospital will be named the Fancsy Family Hospital after the estate of the late John Fancsy donated approximately $40 million dollars to the project — the largest single gift ever received by the Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation.

Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones joined local officials and members of the Fancsy family — including John’s two Labrador retrievers — to make the announcement Tuesday morning.

“[I] never had the privilege of the opportunity to meet John,” Ford told the audience at the announcement.

“But just what I’ve heard of him … his heart was as big as himself. … You know, we can’t build hospitals anywhere in this province without families like yourself. It just would not be possible.” 

John Fancsy was an engineer who also co-founded the Viewpointe Estate Winery in Harrow with his brother Stephen, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation and the Windsor Regional Hospital. 

His grandfather co-founded auto parts manufacturing companies in the region, and his late mother, Antoinette, was a nurse who worked at the former Hotel-Dieu Hospital.

Donation inspired by patient experience

Antoinnette left a gift to the new hospital in her own will and was one of the first people to request donations to the hospital in her memory.

“John made the decision to donate to the new hospital after he went under surgery for spinal stenosis here in Windsor,” his sister, Terry Fancsy, told the audience at the news conference.

“His recovery in hospital confirmed his decision. While there, he experienced first hand the limitations of the current facility, including tight, crowded spaces; shared patient rooms and limited privacy. He sat back quietly, observing just how his gift could better meet the community’s needs.”

Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones pose with local officials and members of the Fancsy family during a news conference to announce the donation to the new hospital. (Jennifer La Grassa/CBC)

Hospitals are primarily paid for by the province, but local communities are responsible for funding 10 per cent of the construction costs and 100 per cent of the costs of equipment, furniture, parking lots, fixtures and shell space, the release said.

The hospital’s former CEO, now a special adviser to the new hospital project, called the donation “breathtaking.” 

“When we heard about it, and even to this day, I still get goose pimples,” David Musyj said.

Until now, he said, the largest donation in the hospital foundation’s history had been last year’s $15 million gift from the Solcz Family Foundation. 

The fact that the money is coming now means the foundation will be able to earn interest on it until it comes time to spend it, Musyj added.

The hospital’s vice president of redevelopment said he expects construction work to begin on the building early next year, ahead of schedule, despite rising costs due to U.S. tariffs and Canada’s response to them.

“It’s something that we’re monitoring and we’re well aware of,” Brandon Bailey said of the shifting U.S. trade policy.

Rising costs

“We’re working with the Ministry of Health and Infrastructure Ontario to ensure that we’re getting good value for money, we’re finding efficiencies where we can, all while not sacrificing the patient care or the patient experience.”

Bailey deferred questions about whether Canadian companies would get preferential treatment in the procurement process to Infrastructure Ontario.

He also declined to offer a new estimate on the approximate cost of the hospital, which he suggested would take five to seven years to complete.

Rising construction costs will not affect the scope of the project, he added. 

“The cost is a separate item that we need to work on together as a group,” Bailey said. 

“But the facility is the facility that this community needs, and that’s what we’re focused on.”