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Oil & MedicineThe Duncan family gift proves, again, that oil and medicine blend beautifully to improve health care.by Jessica Rush
Duncan's story is as large and visionary and generous as those who preceded him in the heady days of the Texas oil and gas industry. Men like George Mitchell, who pushed beyond the creation of a successful oil and gas exploration company to develop a modern model master-planned community, The Woodlands; Constantine Nicandros, who as president and CEO of Conoco, helped make Houston the energy capital of the world; and Roy Huffington, a Ph.D. turned oil and gas entrepreneur. Like Duncan, all of these men played major roles in building the Texas oil and gas industry - and, like Duncan, all have been major benefactors of Baylor College of Medicine. Yet in spite of his secure place among a pantheon of Texas oil greats, Duncan's small town values remain at the core of who he is - family man, community leader, humanitarian, and business mogul - and are the cornerstones of his success. "True wealth is really measured in lives you touch, not dollars you have." In the energy world, Duncan is best known as the founder, majority owner, and chairman of Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners, L.P., a Fortune 500 company and the second largest publicly traded mid-stream energy partnership in North America. To the people of Baylor College of Medicine, Duncan is a respected and valued member of the College's Board of Trustees and one of the institution's most fervent supporters. He is also a former patient and cancer survivor, distinctions that give him a uniquely personal perspective into the vital work that Baylor does and its impact on the health and lives of the community. Diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1995, Duncan was treated by Baylor urologists. "A diagnosis of cancer or any serious illness quickly puts things in perspective," said Duncan. "I realized how fortunate I was to have Baylor physicians on my team. The depth of knowledge, experience, and resources they brought to my care gave me a sense of comfort and trust that was invaluable. I'm compelled to do what I can to support Baylor's mission and its groundbreaking work." "This is our opportunity to help Baylor create a new model of care for patients and their families." Baylor has been the grateful recipient of the Duncan family's generosity for several years. Enterprise Products is a supporter of the Prostate Cancer Research Initiative (PCRI), as well as a lead sponsor of the Scott Department of Urology's Prostate Cancer Golf Tournament. In February 2003, he and his family made a $2 million gift to the department to establish an endowed chair, the Dan L. Duncan Family Chair in Prostate Disease. Most recently, in September 2004, Duncan and his family collectively resolved to provide Baylor with an unprecedented gift of $35 million in support of the College's new adult ambulatory care center, Baylor Clinic. The commitment is the largest the Duncan family has ever made and will support Phase II of Baylor Clinic, which involves construction of a state-of-theart facility scheduled for completion in July 2007. "As one of the nation's leading academic medical institutions, Baylor College of Medicine's public charge is not only to practice medicine, but also to change this practice to provide better medicine," said Baylor President and CEO Dr. Peter G. Traber. "Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in our plans for Baylor Clinic. All of us at BCM are grateful to the Duncan family for their generosity and outstanding support." "We are grateful to the Duncan family, whose generosity and support will help Baylor College of Medicine provide better medicine through Baylor Clinic." The Duncan family gift will significantly enhance Baylor's role as a global leader in patient care, research, and education-and that is exactly what Duncan and his family intended. "This is our opportunity to help Baylor create a new model of care for patients and their families," said Duncan. "This institution is committed not just to practicing medicine, but to changing the practice of medicine for the better, and I believe Baylor Clinic will create the atmosphere for those changes." A Texas "Giant" with Small-Town Values - Family, Compassion, Tradition, Civic Duty
"From a young age, my father faced some difficult challenges in life," said Randa Duncan Williams, one of his daughters. "But the values, principles, and strong work ethic that were instilled in him as a child remain with him and are, to this day, the trademarks of his character." Also part of his character is the ability to recognize and seize opportunities. Rather than entering the farming industry as did many young men in his small hometown of Center, Texas, Duncan worked as a roughneck before serving for two years in the U.S. Army in the 1950s. Upon completion of his military service, he studied finance, accounting and law at Massey Business College and at South Texas College of Law. He then joined Wanda Petroleum, a trucking and underground storage company. There, Duncan served in various capacities, the last as Executive Vice President. In 1969, he became a principal of Enterprise Products, a small company that he led into the natural gas field and that ultimately grew into the multi-billion dollar conglomerate it is today. Under his direction, Enterprise is consistently ranked as one of the nation's leading companies and one of the best managed. In 2003, Duncan was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame, which honors Texas business leaders who have made outstanding contributions in their field and in the communities in which they live. In business and in philanthropy, it is evident that Dan Duncan consistently achieves his goals - and he rarely misses his target when it comes to his other interests either. A consummate big game hunter, he has hunted on every continent in the world. In 1996, he was honored as one of the world's premier sportsmen and conservationists and received the Weatherby Award for his outstanding support of wildlife conservation, lifetime hunting achievement, and dedication to the principles of ethical sport hunting. Other related honors include the Safari Club International World Award Ring, the Houston Safari Club Hunter of the Year Award, and the Safari Club International Hunter of the Year Award. "Dan Duncan is an outstanding board member, who works tirelessly for Baylor College of Medicine. This significant gift by the Duncan family shows his strong commitment to the College's vision of creating the future of medicine." Numerous organizations benefit from Duncan's support and affiliation, including the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the Houston Zoo, Inc., the Exotic Wildlife Association, the Boy Scouts of America, The Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Texas Wildlife Association and others. Included in the Forbes 400 list of America's wealthiest individuals, Duncan believes wealth is a relative term. "True wealth," he said, "is really measured in lives you touch, not dollars you have." As a husband, father and grandfather, he takes great pride and comfort in his family. He has strived to instill in them a sense of civic duty and the same straightforward values that his own grandmother handed down. "It sounds like a cliché to say that I want to make a difference for others," Duncan concluded. "In reality, I feel that I could never give enough or do enough to compensate for the wonderful life with which I've been blessed." |
Patient CareBaylor Clinic from the Inside Out Oil and Medicine: Profile on Dan Duncan ResearchEpilepsy: Seeking the Cause of a Lonely Disease Epilepsy: A history of stigma and superstition In for a Checkup? Check Out the Research Too EducationAll About the Education Evolution Revolution Community ServiceIntroducing the Problem Solvers College NewsRededication of a Monument to Medicine New BCM Logo Takes Center Stage The Perfect Fit: Putting the Pieces Together
Our Mission, Values, and Imperatives
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Volume 1, Issue 1, Spring 2005 |
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| Last modified: October 10, 2008 |
From a rural farming community in East Texas, to
the boardroom of one of the most successful and
profitable corporations in the world, Dan Duncan's life
is the stuff from which Texas legends are made.
Creating positive change is an ideal to which Duncan has aspired throughout his life and one that complements his personal philosophy, which is simply to "do the best you can every day." This practical, yet profound, advice came from his grandmother who, following the deaths of Duncan's mother and his only sibling, reared him from the age of seven to adulthood.