Honoring Our Donors
John and Mary Jo Boler
John and Mary Jo Boler’s $20 million pledge was the first gift of its size to Rush since the Medical Center’s founding in 1837 and one of the largest gifts ever to a Chicago-area hospital. The extraordinary gift not only jumpstarted the campaign, it drew attention to the new technology that is driving Rush’s plans for the future.
At the heart of plans for the new hospital is the Mary Jo and John Boler Centers for Advanced Imaging. This imaging technology will not only provide nearly unbelievable level of detail — “It’s like high definition television for health care,” John says — but will usher in a new era of diagnosis and treatment. For example, imaging is expected to supplant catheterization as a diagnostic tool in cardiac care, to replace colonoscopies and other invasive screenings, to make it possible to catch and treat cancer much earlier, to plan and target cancer treatment with great precision and to explore the origins of brain-based diseases such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and depression.
Mary Jo and John — a Rush trustee since 2004 — have both been patients at Rush. “We know firsthand what Rush's historic commitment to excellence in patient care means,” says John. “By investing in this incredible imaging technology and facilities, we believe we can help elevate patient care across every specialty at Rush.”
John is chairman of the Boler Company, based in Itasca, Illinois, which, as Hendrickson
International, makes truck and trailer suspension systems and auxiliary axle systems
for the heavy-duty commercial vehicle market. The Bolers have five children and 10
grandchildren.
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